Mockasaurous Rex!

We let Hugo and Mockie run around outside in the yard when we're home.  Poor things, they have to find shade any place they can since we haven't planted any trees yet.  This is one of their favorite places to lay down.  Both of them were sleeping when I went to took the picture but Hugo woke up right when I took it.

Uh oh, I've been spotted!  They both run to the door when they see me.  They think I'll give them treats every time I come to the door so they always come running.

 Mockie just turned 7 months.  She weighs about 70 lbs.  

She doesn't like it when I take her picture.

She's complaining in this picture.  I'm ruining her chill time on the couch.  What a monster.  This is one of her favorite spots.  We'll be watching tv upstairs and she'll be down stairs by herself just laying on the couch.

It's so hard to get a good picture of her.  She's always moving around too much.  We tried to trick her into looking at me.  Chris is behind me telling to her lay down for a treat.  This is why she has a hungry look in her eye.

One of Mockie's hobbies is to spy on the neighbor dogs from the upstairs window.  She gets mad when the blinds are down and she can't see anything.

It brings her much joy.

Mockie decided that she didn't want to be contained in the backyard anymore.  It was bound to happen some time.  It all started last week when Chris' mom came over to help plant flowers in our front yard.  Mockie could hear us so so started to dig.  She got in trouble and was put in her kennel where she yelped for several hours afterward.  She is a complainer, must get it from me.  Anyways, a few days later the sprinklers accidentally came on while the dogs were running around.  Mockie used it as an opportunity to dig under the fence again while the ground was soft.  Afterward she tried to clean off her muddy paws by playing in the sprinkler.  It worked cause we didn't notice until the next day what she was up to.  Chris discovered it before he went to work and was trying to fill the hole in while Mockie was yelling at him and trying to dig the hole out as he was filling it.  I checked on them a while after Chris left and Hugo was standing watch at the back door while Mockie was working on the hole.  I opened the door and Mockie came running, her muddy paws gave her away.  When I started to walk over to the side of the house, both of them tried to stop me by jumping at me.  Needless to say, they both got sentenced to their kennels.  They were almost home free when I discovered it.

This was probably her first of 3 holes.  It was around the sprinkler but she didn't get far so she gave up.

This looked a lot worse when it was wet.  Chris tried cover it up with these bricks that used to edge our flower beds before we got curbing last year.  It didn't stop Mockie though.

This is the other side.  Her massive paws reached out 1 1/2 feet onto the other side and yanked out a plant that was planted a few days previous.  It was dead when I found it cause she broke it in 2 pieces.  She could probably fit her head out of this hole.  It's deeper than it looks.

Sorry if some of you have heard this story 3 times now.  I posted it on my facebook a few days ago.  Mockie and Hugo were grounded for a few days afterward after their bad behavior last week.  Last Monday Mockie got free from the backyard probably from Chris' nieces and brother opening the gate, but they wouldn't admit it.  Hugo was also bad when he clawed Chris' brother Taylor down his back when he tried to hold him so the girls could get out of the back yard.  The last few days they have been trying to make up for it.  Mockie slept through 3 nights without waking up during the night for a night time stroll around the yard.  Hugo was being extra friendly when Chris' sister and her family stopped by last night.  He was going up to everyone and letting them pet him, licking their hands, and giving Chris' niece kisses.  For those of you who know Hugo, you know how out of character that is for him .  This week we are planning on laying down cement for the dogs' kennels.  We're planning on connecting their kennels into one and with the cement it'll be easier to clean and they won't be muddy.  I tested them out in the same kennel for a few days while I was home and they did really well.  They enjoyed taking naps together and I could hear them playing every now and then.

For those of you who heard, we were thinking about rescuing a Malamute from an animal shelter because he was in danger of being euthanized.  We didn't really know if we should or not since we didn't know how our dogs would respond to him.  It turns out he was saved by an animal rescue that specializes in Huskies and Malamutes.  He's in a foster home right now and still needs to be adopted.  They sent us an adoption form and I was not really prepared for what it took to adopt a dog from a rescue.  It was a 2 page questionnaire asking things like obedience school, if you have a fenced yard, a kennel, are you giving it as a gift, do you have a crate, will you take the dog in an open back truck, etc.  They are also very strict about vet visits, they want you to send documentation of vet visits annually, plus I heard they also call the vets.  Once you adopt the dog, you can't give it away, sell it, or take it to a shelter or else they will sue you.  After all this, they wanted a $200 adoption fee plus a donation.  Yikes!  I can understand that they want the dog to go to a good home and to be well taken care of and not end up in a shelter.  All of this seemed a bit much for us and after Hugo and Mockie's behavior this week, we weren't ready for another dog.  If he was about to get euthanized, then it would have been different.  At least he's in a foster home right now and won't get killed.

Goliath