K-9 Tails: Sunday Adventures

Every Sunday we head off to my parent's house for family dinner.. the difference with our family dinners though is that ours always include our dogs! Our 'mini pack' totals four dogs; Occa and Belle (who you've already met) and Lucy and Cameron. I'll briefly introduce them below as they will no-doubt feature heavily in the future.

Cameron is my aunt's dog, a Jack Russell cross Pug who is three years old. He is an old soul who has a massive crush on Belle. He follows her everywhere and wants to be near her as much as possible. Luckily, she returns the feelings, though not quite romantically.

Lucy is my parent's new puppy and is still a fairly recent addition to the pack. She is a pure 'red cloud' Kelpie and around 14 weeks old at the moment. Suffice to say she is still learning how to engage with the older dogs and what they like and don't like. . she still hasn't caught on that older dog's don't appreciate their mouths being licked constantly, but it is the canine method of appeasement - so she gives it a red hot go!

*Note; dogs will also do this to humans, Belle who is a little bit nervous constantly licks our faces to appease us.. thank you Paul the Canine Coach (based in Canberra) for this piece of advice. Therefore it is best not to get too cranky when this happens continuously, simply stand up and walk away.*

Lucy follows Occa around (whom is affectionately known as "the Blue Whale" in my parent's household) and mimics his every behaviour. She is beyond besotted with him and last night we managed to capture a few snaps of their antics.

Occa; the chewer. He will sit with a squeaker for ages just chewing and squeaking. This one is particularly great (Kong Squeezz Bone) as it doesn't have a squeaker inside (it is the squeaker) and therefore it is less likely to be destroyed. A true winner for the working dogs and their tough jaws!

Dad has created a squeaker - tug combination toy for Lucy by simply tying a length of rope to the Kong Squeezz Bone. Occa and Lucy loved it! Eventually Occa got so tired and lazy (he just can't keep up with the youngster!!) that he laid down whilst Lucy ran from side-to-side pulling him only mere inches.