[Dailydrool] this and that

[Val lbrewerzwick]

1. summer is coming. How do I know this (aside from the calendar and changes in weather)?  Mariah is changing colors.  In the winter Mariah has a fabulous glossy jet black coat with a white collar, chest, nose, blaze, tummy, paws, and tail tip.  With red above her eyes, on her cheeks, and on the underside of her tail  But in the summer all that glossy black turns red with black flecks except for a glossy black streak down the top of her back (like a reverse skunk).  Does anyone else have a basset that changes colors according to the season?

2. Seth and Xander.  Two of my three are a little food insecure.  So we have a routine that works.  I ask them all to sit in a row while I prepare dinners (trained initially with biscuits and commands).  then each has a feeding station separated by about ten feet from the next feeding station.  i take all three bowls in my hands and place them in order as I walk across the room, calling out the name of the dog whose bowl has just been set in place as I set each bowl down.  Now each girl runs to her feeding station and waits for her bowl.  don’t know if this routine might help with Seth and Xander, but the predictability totally works for us.

3. all girls, all boys.  Before, we had two boys: Bo and Harley.  Now, we have three girls, Mila, Mariah, and Ipo.  We have had no problems with either combination.  i think hounds, who have been bred to live in packs, tend to get along with one another, though I could be overgeneralizing from too few experiences.  Back when we had terriers, two boys spelled trouble.  Though I suspect it also depends on how many alpha personalities one combines.  Each combo of hounds, we have had one alpha and the rest betas or omegas.

Val Brewer (with Mariah—I’m the alpha!, and Mila and Ipo—whatevehs):