Monday morning ramblings

Morning; not sure if it's a good morning yet or not I'm having a hardtime waking up. I'd like to hop out of bed but my body is not obliging. Waking up at 5ish is tough, much easier when there is at least a glimmer of daytime out the window. But as soon as I finish writing I gotta get up, really. The dogs are not even considering getting up.

Lastnight I was watching a show on Grizzly bears on NatGeo; it was very good with lots of insight and pretty scarey to boot. They had footage of grizzly bears taking down carribeau and taking on packs of wolves. Wolves have balls I'll tell you; watching them try to hold their ground with the monster sized Grizzly. They deek and dodge just out of reach from those giant paws and claws. Makes me think of the small dogs that think they are so much larger than they are, like my Jessie.

We were walking all the dogs on Saturday and came across a woman with a very old dog. A 17 year old chow, pretty impressive I'll say. It looked very much like a black chow and only the white patches of fur on it's chest gave a hint of the mix it had in it. With it's head slung very low; so low it nearly dragged on the ground it approached my guys. I of course veered off with Jessie and my husband let Luke and Tilley meet this very old man. The lady told us of her dogs younger days in Colorado; when he used to run for miles nonstop. And here he was at 17 trudging along with his companion of so many years. He was obviously enjoying his walk; it was slower and more than likely a bit painful but he was still out walking.

But back to Jessie; her greeting method is that of one with "the small dog syndrome." You come out swinging; let them know right away that you are no "little dog," and they best beware. She is not a mean dog by any stretch of the imagination but she sure comes across as that. She is a VERY dominant dog; and because of this she needs to be taken care of. Not all dogs are cool with being lashed at upon meeting. Jessie has only once been brought to submit and that was when she was very young greeting an Irish wolfhound, but that was the one and only time.

Many small dogs lash out because of fear, hey it must be tough being so small when big dogs approach. This too can get them into trouble as they tend to snap at the approaching dog trying to keep them away. Many dogs will retaliate to a snap instead of backing off as the little one would like. Because of the size difference that we humans have manufactured in dogs we now have to be very careful; careful of the little ones and careful of the big ones.

It always amazes me how a tiny dog can dominate a big dog just through sheer attitude. Jessie keeps many dogs in their place but because of her size I watch very closely who she interacts with. Jessie may be small but she is not fragile like so many of the tiny dogs these days, you know the "teacup pocket pooches." Most small breeds have those questionable breeders breeding them down and down until there is barely enough material to consider it a real dog. These dogs have issues, big medical issues.

Jessie is not that small, she is a hefty 15 lbs of pure muscle. She is like a Timex, she can take a lick'n and keep on tick'n. She is tough, rough and ready to rumble. Like the wolves on the show lastnight, she does not have the heart of a coward and is one big brave girl.

Have a great start to the week all.