Getting Past

In our house of three furry tyrants there always seem to be one in your way. We just step over them, but the 15-month old furless tyrant can't. Instead he's making his own way to cross them. Watch!

Funny sleeping

 

 Funny sleeping position - super photo!

Togo has a nice comfy pillow.

Tagar is airing her under regions.

Gamby funny-joints is curled up at an extreme angle.

Shedding

So, you want a husky. You know they're furry.
You know they shed twice a year.
But... do you know what shedding looks like?

 

Look at them furry beauties, you say. 

How bad can shedding be? 

How much spare fur can they be carrying?

THIS MUCH.

 

Yes, its THIS MUCH

 

That's from one session of brushing the 3 tyrants. 

I repeat, ONE brushing session.

Technically that's fur from 2.5 dogs, because Gamby wasn't shedding much and she's not keen to be held and brushed. But Togo and Tagar produced roughly a dog of fur each.

If you're thinking - cool, there's enough fur to make a whole dog - you're wrong.

There's enough fur to make TWO full dogs. That dog is only half a bucket, but I can't make another because the tyrants keep messing up my 'artwork'.

Using all the fur might get you a dog bigger than Togo. 
I say might because I couldn't get all that fur into a dog shape - it keeps looking like a mutant rabbit!

Sunday

"Just a lazy Sunday afternoon, with my best friend."

Over run

I came out of the bath one day and burst out laughing at this.

Looks like someone got ran over by the bed, tee hee.

That's Gamby, you can tell by her awkward hind legs.

No Evil

 

See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil

Uh, tyrants. You're doing it wrong.

Smile

I loooooove this pic of Gamby.

It's been more than a year since her surgery and the awful months preceding it.
And still we give thanks everytime we see her pretty smiling face, and especially when we see her sitting beautifully on her haunches.

 

Thank you Ian for the beautiful photo.

Annoy the Animals

Here's a video of 14-month old Kid playing Annoy the Animals.

The tyrants were napping before this. Note the toys which were abandoned for more fun stuff - disturbing the tyrants!

Expect the Toddler

From What to Expect the Toddler Years [by Heidi Murkoff & Sharon Mezel] on a question regarding pets and toddlers :

A dog can not only be a toddler's best friend, it can also be one of his best learning tools. This is true of pets in general but especially true of dogs. From a dog, a young child can learn about animals and nature, about responsibility, about empathy, about getting along with others, about unconditional love and loyalty.

The text goes on in detail over the subject. Isn't that beautiful?


Kid, at 14 months, is almost steady on his feet now. Rather than play with his toys, he's either playing Tail the Tyrants, Harass the Huskies or Annoy the Animals.

The tyrants, being a lazy bunch, are constantly napping all over the floor. Perfect for Kid to play with their ears, pull their tails, rearrange their fur and push their prone feet around. When they do get up and move around, there's a constant shadow behind them, toddling at top speed trying to catch their upright tails.

We're not sure about all that nice stuff, but Kid is definitely learning how to be a tyrant!

Ball Story

Togo has been, from a small pup, fiercely attached to toys. Not only doesn't he share his toys with the others (especially not his pet blue ball), he forcefully takes their toys and hogs them, not letting anyone else play.

Little Togo and his fav ball

 

Like this time I got them each a teddy bear. They took their toys and ran to a corner each to play. For a few minutes, at least. Then came Togo the tyrant - he bullied Tagar and Gamby in turn, snatched their bears and piled them up with his. And then he sat down guarding 'his' toys the whole day, while the girls sat some distance away staring mournfully at their bears.

The girls always in deference of Togo

 

Which is why I stopped buying the furry tyrants any toys, because Togo hoards them and nobody gets to play. The girls don't fight back because Togo is the alpha male*, and his word is law.

Kid has an assortment of toys, of course, but Togo has had no interest in most of them. Except for this lot of little brightly colored balls which he's constantly trying to collect and hoard.

Kid's colorful balls

So anyway, Kid has just morphed from baby to toddler, and after learning to be steady on his feet in the safety of his playroom he's now allowed to toddle around in the hall, amidst the 3 furry rugs lying about. Yesterday he was doing just that, toddling about playing with this toy and that.

He picked up a little blue ball, and immediately Togo sprang up and went to bully him into surrendering it. Babies are essentially self-centered creatures, for they are in the center of their limited world. Kid didn't want to give up the ball, and Togo tried to take it from his hand**, puzzled that Kid is not backing down like the girls usually do. It was interesting to watch the clash of egos, both staring eye to eye, being the same height, haha. Kid then threw down the ball and laughed gleefully when Togo danced maniacally around it. So Togo kept the ball and played with it after that.

Togo victorious with the blue ball

 

Then they all settled down for a nap (not together, of course!), the ball left forgotten on the floor. Much later Kid was again toddling about and found the blue ball. He pushed it around here and there, crawling after it. Kid was playing for some minutes before Togo noticed, and of course he leapt up, took the rolling ball and retired to his corner making the ball 'his'.

Uh-oh. Now you should know that taking anything from Kid while he's focused on it will set him off in a whine. Kid set off after Togo, whingeing his most annoying whine. He tried taking the ball from Togo but Togo fended him off. Kid then when into full tantrum, stamping his foot and whining whining whining whining whining whining ...

Two annoying minutes later Kid is still whining and stamping his foot. I wanted to intercede but I thought to let it be, partly from interest, and partly from trying to ignore Kid and teach him that tantrums don't get you your way. So kid annoyingly continued on stamping and whining whining whining whining

And Togo rolled the ball back to Kid.

Kid happily took the blue ball and continued playing. I think Togo gave up the ball just to make him stop the terrible noise. I laughed so hard at this - Togo the tyrant finally met a tyrant to match!

Who's the tyrant now?

* Alpha dog, that is. In this house I am the Alpha. You should never let your dog be the alpha in your family, in your place.
** Under very close supervision. Regardless of how much you trust your dogs, they still have teeth so always be careful around kids.

Double Take

Tagar, in a mess.

Tagar, in a mess. With an ostrich.

Goat

Sometimes we're convinced we keep goats instead of dogs.

Howling

The tyrants sometimes howl when the old newspaper van passes by, answering the mournful call of 'paper lama old newspaper papaeeerrr laaaaamaaaa'. They only howl at certain vans, though, they seem to howl only at those that sound really tragic.

Sometimes they howl with all their might. Sometimes they lift their head and howl a small pathetic whimper. Sometimes they just cock their ears, decide its not worth the effort and continue sleeping. Especially if they're still upstairs enjoying the air-conditioned room.

But when they do decide to put their best effort and perform the howl choir, they sound quite impressive. (Or, if you ask our neighbours, impressively annoying!) Here's an example.





Yesterday I was sitting with the little human tyrant who was happily amusing himself when a paper lama van passed by. The furry tyrants were outside, and decided they would give a performance. All three howled and howled and howled, with strains and arias and what-nots.

The little human tyrant sat listening intently to the choir. Then, to my amusement/ horror/ disbelieve - the little human tyrant pursed his lips into a neat O - and howled a little baby howl! And he has not yet spoken his first word!

OMG.

Wall

Three years ago we posted this picture of little Togo peeping out of his brand new wall.


Togo has now grown, the wall has cracked, and the once pristine wall windows has tyrant snot all over it.


GROSS.

Keeping Watch

Tagar does a wonderful job baby-sitting.
Or baby-sleeping, more accurately.



The video stops there. At that point the Tagar leapt up and swallowed the baby whole.*

* Hahahaha