Ray has a new way to torment our backyard visitors. She loves to jump up to the feeder platform, whether critters are up there eating or not, and has started biting and hanging from it temporarily. She almost got a squirrel by the other day, it just barely got away. Here's the tree climbing/jumping video as promised:
In other news, Ray slept on the bed with us almost all night last night! So exciting, even though I got almost no sleep! She hasn't slept with us since the first night we brought her home and she slept with me on the couch.
Ray's still terrified of the crevasse between the bed and wall. I don't know what she thinks is in that dark abyss, but she still stays far from the edge. We invite her up on the bed regularly but you can't move too quick or she takes off. And she typically only stays a few minutes. Last night was a treat but not one I'll be too quick to repeat.
In not so fun news: Ray's a little obsessed with the dog behind us. We're teaching her not to bark at it (wish our neighbor would do the same) so instead she whines. And bites the fence. I was looking the other day and the privacy fence has bite marks all down a lengthy section of it at various heights in the Ray reach. I see fence repairs in our not so distant future.
Huge news! Ray caught the Frisbee twice tonight while I was playing with her. It's the first time she's caught it for either of us and two times no less! We were super excited!
Here's a video of one of our other athletes. Lieu loves to "play soccer" and will push a ball around the yard until he's about to collapse, so he doesn't get many opportunities.
If I haven't expressed how much Raylene likes the cold, let me just cover that now - my dog is a yeti. Ray LOVES cold weather, it seems like the colder the better. She wants to stay out and play long after everyone else has come in. It doesn't matter if the wind's blowing, it's dark or snowing, Ray's out there entertaining herself, or if she's lucky, playing with Magi.
The top of our backyard pond has frozen more than usual this winter due to the unseasonably cold weather we've been experiencing. Raylene can't get enough of the ice! We've given up trying to keep her off of it. She lays on it, leaps onto it and digs at it.
But her favorite thing is to frolic with sweet gum balls - yes, the pointy, brown, pain in the butt castoffs from my neighbor's sweet gum trees. Lieu loves to chew on them as well, but never have I seen him prance and dance with them the way Ray does, especially across the ice! It's absolutely magical to watch at night under the lights, but of course I couldn't get any video of that. Too bad the Olympic figure skating trials are already over, Ray would definitely take the gold!
I have visions of her falling through the ice and having to scoop her out or worse, but it's worth the worry to watch her have so much fun. Jason assures me that she's safe, the ice is plenty solid. And when it does start melting, he breaks it up to discourage Puppy Shackleton from exploring. Then she has a grand time trying to grab chunks of ice from the pond and running around the yard with it.
The pack and their people enjoyed a beautiful day in the backyard yesterday, taking advantage of the 60 degree day among all of the bitterly cold ones. There was plenty of chase, wrestling and stick chewing to be had. Ray also worked on her tunnel to China in the digging pit and found her way to the top of the compost bin to bark at the neighborhood dogs. Such a busy, busy girl. I took advantage of the warm weather by giving the yard a thorough poop scooping. Such is the glamorous life of a super dog mom.
