Tooth fairy

I wonder if the tooth fairy visits dogs?



I know she still visits children, because she's made a couple of stops at my nephew Ethan's house lately.

Darby! Bring me the ball!

Half way through this very short video, I'll bet you can see where I said: "Darby! Bring me the ball!"



Pretty good, huh?

OK. So it wasn't from very far that she had to "bring" it. But she did what I asked her to do!

Walking

I'd get more exercise if Darby and I walked more.



I don't mean leave the house with the dog on the leash walk more.



I mean spend less time lying on the cool grass of the front lawns we pass while we're walking walk more.

Coyote Poop

No new photos of Darby today. After work, I was home just long enough to let her out and play with her then I headed for my yoga class. (Down dog has a new meaning for me now!)

Since there was no time for new photos, I dug out some old ones that I haven't used before.

We live on a canyon.



On just the other side of the chainlink fence that separates our backyard from the canyon is a coyote road. You can't see the path in these photos, but you can see it when you walk down the hill and look up.

We saw bobcats in our yard 9-10 years ago after we first moved in, but we've never seen a coyote in the yard. We assume they can't run up hill and jump over the fence. But, we never leave the Darbs alone in the morning or evening just in case.

The coyotes who use the "road" claim it as their territory (I'm assuming that's what they are doing) by pooping on it periodically.

One morning in the time it took me to walk inside and pour another cup of coffee, a coyote walked by and left a nice fresh deposit! Still steaming (sorry you delicate folk) when I walked back out.

Wish I had thought to get my camera!

These photos will just have to do.

The blue ball rolls faster

I like after better

Before:



After:



I like after.

Funny how one little pup can worm her way into a person's life.

Bad dog!

Darby loves Harry's litter box. I like to think it is the ground-corn-cob, environmentally responsible litter that attracts her, but I have a feeling it is probably something else...

I think she is probably too long to make the turn from the igloo tunnel-like entrance into the business part of the box, but I don't want to take any chances, so I think I need to get a more secure gate. The old fashioned wood and mesh gate is no match for Darby's determination.

Now that Darby can chase Harry up the stairs, I think I owe it to Harry to let him at least use his litter box in peace!

Then and now

It's hard to believe that Darby has only been with us a little less than three months. She is such a big part of our lives now.

This was her then:



And, this is her now:

Nearly three months, ten pounds, a few days of ear tape, a few tears of frustration, a thousand laughs and several rolls of paper towels to wipe up "accidents" later.

Krysten had her camera ready

Every time Darby did this:



I wished I had my camera ready.

Krysten, the puppy letter-outer, had her camera ready today!

Great shot, Krysten! But then you had good material to work with!!

Growing up

Darby is looking more grown up to me all the time. That round little puppy is pretty much gone.



I think she is so pretty!

Darby and the Stink Bug

Darby encountered a new creature in the backyard tonight. A stink bug.*



We have lots of them out here in the foothills outside San Diego.



But, I have to say this was one of the largest ones I've ever seen. Easily the size of my thumb.



Darby didn't get her nose too close, but she tried getting it with a paw before giving up and letting it walk away toward the canyon.


* OK--so I guess it isn't really a stink bug: http://insect-collector.blogspot.com/2009/03/tenebrionidae.html

Don't they look peaceful?

Don't Harry and Darby look peaceful, snoozing away a hot afternoon?



You should have seen them earlier in the day!

Upstairs Downstairs

The Darbs is getting to be a real pro at going up and down the stairs.




Too bad I'm not getting to be a pro at using the movie function on my camera!

Best seat in the house--oops, I mean patio

Dogs are strange

She could have taken a nap anywhere.



She could have walked around the x-pen panels into the bedroom and sacked out on the carpet or in her crate. She could have napped on the nice thick rug in front of my sink.



But, this is where she chose:

Go get that ball!

What Darby does (sometimes) when I say "Go get that ball!":



OK. So I am an even worse videographer than I am a photographer!

Herding

What's a corgi to do when she doesn't have cattle or sheep to herd and the resident cat and humans will not allow themselves to be herded?

Herd toys, I guess!



I like the way Darby arranged these toys.

(I don't like the way that photo looks, but it was the best I could do in the low light of evening.)

Cat--err--Dog Tree

Harry rarely plays on his cat tree anymore now that the Darbs is in town and dogging his every move.



But, Darby likes it. She sometimes hangs out in the little tunnel with front legs hanging out the front and back legs out the back and watches me at the computer.




She doesn't play much with the high-tech aluminum foil ball hanging from fishing line that Harry used to like so much.

Shy

Darby is shy.

Not so much around people, but definitely around dogs--puppies or non-corgi's that is.

Today at puppy class during free play, she visited all the humans, but groveled around submissively any time a puppy came near.

Oddly enough--to me--when we were at the sheep ranch a couple of weeks ago, all the dogs were corgis and she didn't show a speck of shyness or nervousness.

The puppy class teacher says that's really not odd at all, that dogs often have a marked preference for their own breed.



Shy or not, she sure is cute!

Drinking (?) Fountain

Drinking isn't exactly what we had in mind when we installed a fountain in our backyard.



Our two old dogs used it, too!

(Another photo by Krysten, the puppy letter-outer.)

(Darby weighed in at 16.4 oz at the vet this yesterday when she got her rabies shot. I would have guessed a little heavier.)

I love this photo

I love this photo.



I have no idea how it happened, but it makes me smile every time I look at it!

Darby and the Coyote

I've been seeing coyotes in the canyon on the other side of our fence nearly every morning and lots of evenings.

I never want one to get anywhere near Darby.

But I guess it's OK if she gets near this one:



(Photo taken by Darby's puppy sitter, Krysten, who lets her out to "do her business" in the middle of the day.)

Pretty eyes

I think Darby has pretty eyes.



My sister calls them "soulful."

That Aunt Kathy!

That Aunt Kathy! She always brings the best toys!

Erika would tell you that.


And now Darby would, too. If she could talk, that is!












I think Darby enjoys chasing the ball Aunt Kathy brought her almost as much as she enjoyed chasing Bonnie.

And, the ball doesn't growl and nip when she gets too close!

For people who think crates are terrible

For people who think crates are terrible: given the choice to sleep anywhere in the house (including upstairs where she can now go and often does!) Darby chose to sleep this afternoon in her crate.

Here she is just after she jumped in:




It used to drive Erika crazy when I would refer to Bonnie's crate as a "cage." Well, this crate of Darby's really is a "cage" but I make myself refer to it as a crate!

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Harry and Darby both sleeping within a few feet of each other.

Made me sleepy, too!



But I managed to keep my eyes open long enough to watch Darby roll onto her back--typical Corgi style:



(One photo taken with the flash; one without.)

Fraping

Darby still fraps at least once a day.



When she starts out in the house



I open the patio door so she can "take it outside."



It looks like so much fun, it makes me almost start running around the yard.

Only almost!

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July from Darby and her Fatchawhodi* minus her crown!





* Erika's name for the Statue of Liberty!