The latest from “Camp Barkalot” is that the kids are getting along splendidly. Aside from the expected snitching from each other’s food bowls there don’t seem to be any major dominance games going on. So far, neither of them has got his head wet again, but that’s not for a lack of trying. They’re both learning to keep an eye on what the other one’s about to do and jumping away if need be. (Wylie seems the more likely to jump away, Riley hasn’t quite caught on that he doesn’t want to be in the middle of that.)
Of course, the true ruler of the roost is neither Wiley nor Rylie, but Terry. Wylie learned to respect The Beak a few years ago, but Riley is a fast learner. He tried to get a close up look at Terry on Monday while she was in her cage. I don’t think he actually got up to the bars, but she lunged anyhow. Riley then decided to take another look, this time standing several feet away with several large objects between him and the bird cage…
Despite having fun at camp, Riley definitely misses his humans. He just can’t get enough attention and wants to be in the middle of everything. As a result, Wylie is just that much more eager for attention too. This gets to be “interesting” when I take them for walks. When he goes for a walk, Wylie wears a harness which goes over his head and then his forelegs go through a pair of loops. Normally, it takes about 30 seconds to put this on. But like I said, Riley wants to be involved with everything. When I tried to put Wylie’s harness on him on Tuesday night, I first had to extricate Riley who’d somehow managed to get his head through one of the leg loops.
Heading out the door with a dog has always been an adventure. Wylie’s a bundle of energy waiting for the door to open so he can get out. Riley’s the same way and they’re both straining to be the first out. (I’ve learned to push the door open while standing behind them. That way I’m somewhat less likely to get trampled.)
This morning the two of them went flying out the door and on the way off the stoop Riley demonstrated a new trick. At first I thought he’d pulled so hard that the collar had either come undone or else the ring had pulled loose. No, instead he’d somehow managed to slip out of it altogether. I briefly envisioned myself spending the morning chasing Riley all over Germantown but fortunately he lived up to what his humans had told me and came bounding back as soon as he was called. Of course at that point Wylie managed to pull his leash out of my hands and I now found myself worried about spending the morning chasing two dogs all over Germantown. Happily, neither of them was willing to abandon his new friend that easily and I got them back on the leashes and under way with a minimum of fuss.
And that’s the latest installment of the News from Camp. Probably Thursday they’ll be working on their Arts and Crafts projects, making either beaded lanyards or possibly duct-tape-and-dog-hair wallets.