Happy First (Seventh ????) Birthday!*

I originally wrote this post four years ago (2010) to be published on the first anniversary of the births of The Hounds from Hell and then for some reason (a busy life, work, study...  laziness) didn't finish it.  So I thought that perhaps four years later I'd go back and revise it to reflect things that have changed since that first year.  Changes - if any - are in blue.  I've added a few pictures - some of which may well have appeared here before - from over the past few years.

*This was the original title but of course it should really read Happy Fifth (35?) Birthday! 

The first day we saw them - March 13, 2009 - they almost fit in my hand.

At the end of their first day with us - April 24, 2009.  It was an exhausting day for everyone.

The Hounds from Hell turned one year old this week - Nora actually last week (February 19), she's the older of the two. (Nicky was born on February 23 - they are from two different litters) There was no party and nobody got any presents but I was reminded of a friend who worked her way through collage as an events planner. At the time there was a television personality called LouLou or something like that, who was very popular in Quebec and she asked my friend to plan a birthday party for her poodle and the other dogs from the off-leash park in Outremont. The party mostly consisted of Loulou and her friends enjoy cocktails upstairs as the dogs scrapped, peed, craped, humped, slept and created mayhem amongst streamers and balloons downstairs. Every twenty minutes a progressively more festive Loulou would call down to ask how things were going - though since she purported to be a psychic you'd think she would have known? Apparently she  missed the guests destroying the rather elaborate doggie biscuit cake while a great Dane tried to hump her beloved Bijoux.  My friend said it was a total disaster but at least it paid for her books for that year's courses at University.

A year later in April, 2010 they fit their lovely big kid collars from Auntie Cecilia and pretty much
owned the house and had the humans trained the way they wanted them to be.

But I digress - back to the kids! In honour of their first fifth year I thought I'd post this adaptation I made of a great e-mail I got from my friend Charlie and added some pictures of the HFH from the past two months five years.

If I Didn't Have Two Dogs ....

• All the carpets would be in place to cover those cold tiled and marble hardwood floors.
• All flat surfaces, clothing, furniture, and cars would be free of hair.

These photos were part of the original post so I thought I'd leave them as is.

Nick really is intrigued and I might add distressed by suitcases - signs of an adventure to come or being left alone! And he does love to pose!

• When the doorbell rings, it wouldn't sound like a kennel.
• When the doorbell rings, I could get to the door without wading through barking, fuzzy bodies who beat me there.

Honestly Nicky hasn't been drinking - its just one of his favourite ways of laying - even when he was a puppy.

And another favoured position is this sort of pile-on - which was fine when they were puppies
- a bit more cumbersome when they got a bit bigger.

• I could sit on the couch, at the computer or on my bed the way I wanted, without taking into consideration how much space several fur bodies would need to get comfortable.
• I would be able to get up to answer the phone or the call of nature without having 10 kilos of fur glower at me for disturbing their rest.

Our Nora has always had a Zen side to her - her mantra is the Daschie equivalent of "Kill the Squirrel".

And Nicky is always more interested in things of - or more to the point on - the table.

• I would have money, and no guilt when I go on a vacation.
• I would not be on a first-name basis with 3 veterinarians, as I put their yet unborn grandkids through college.

Semper iacebat in sole - the Daschie motto!

And sometimes a girl has to forgo elegance to get that all important tan just right.

• The most used words in my vocabulary would not be: NORA, NICKY, out, sit, down, come, NO, stay, and leave him/her/it ALONE.
• I would not have to pretend to eat from the dog dish to establish who is the alpha or at least in my case beta in the household.
• I would not talk ' baby talk' in French and English:  'Mange, mange!' 'DoeDoe'. "Who's the most beautiful girl/handsomest boy on Mcleod St
• I would no longer have to spell the words W-A-L-K, T-R-E-A-T, G-O, R-I-D-E, B-I-S-C-U-I-T.

Yeah well you can say: get off! as much as you want - if you turn the heat off outside
in October we're planning on being warm and comfortable inside until it comes back on. 

• I'd look forward to a gentle fall of rain without thinking "O God! Mud! Puddles!".
• My pockets would not contain things like poop bags, treats and an extra leash.
• Walks November through April would not entail unending struggles with boots and coats
• It would not be necessary to go back into a snow bank to retrieve boots that have been kicked off by over-exuberant little back feet.

 

You say Patriotic - I say just plain embarrassing!  And you want me to go out dressed like this?

Our Nora - every vigilant!  Just in case some other dog walks by four floors down
- she'll sound the warning!  And god help the dog that dares come up here!

• I would not have to explain to concerned joggers that I am NOT "doing anything" to that dog its just that she's seen a squirrel and that's her hunting howl.  

• Okay let me say this more slowly - she is a hunting dog,  yes she is small but you wouldn't want to see her take on that squirrel!

Explain to me again why I left a warm patio in Roma for this?

Yes red is "my colour" but honestly enough is really enough!

• I would not look strangely at people who think having ONE dog/cat ties them down too much.
• I would not have to answer the question "Don't two dogs really interfere with your life?" from people who don't understand that yes they do but the joy they bring into my life more than makes up for it.

Your coffee table?  Where on earth did you get the idea it was your coffee table?

Yep the Hounds from Hell are still pains in the butt but they are our pains in the butt and we love them almost as much as they love us - particularly if we have a two biscuits in hand.

February 21 -  1739: Richard Palmer is identified at York Castle, by his former schoolteacher, as the outlaw Dick Turpin.