Our furry friends at Christmas

The humans were not the only ones who enjoyed having us all together at Christmas.

Emily, Suzanne and Buddy on a walk.

Suzanne giving Blackie attention and who is that other dog?

Suzanne and Heath brought the rest of their family to the pond this holiday.  Finn enjoyed the outdoors and spending time indoors with all of our dogs.  He was not pleased about the gate that kept him out of the kitchen but by the end of the week he was a lot more accepting.  

He also learned how to use the doggy door in the basement.  That was the good news.  The bad news was that he would go out that door, into the backyard, leap over the fence and come back around to the front door so that someone would let him back inside.  

Since Finn is only used to being allowed to run without a leash at dog parks, it was a little nerve wracking, especially at the beginning of the week, to let Finn roam.  At one point, he went halfway across the ice on the pond before Heath was able to call him back.  On another day, he headed toward the road.  

The best time for Finn to be off the leash was when we took him for a walk through the timber.  It did not take him more than a few times to learn our route and then he could roam with the other dogs but still check in with us.  Both humans and dogs always arrived home together.  

I have to say in all honesty that the cat was much less trouble.  I only saw him once the week he was here as he stayed in the shed the entire time.  

Shark, as an indoor cat, has had some upheaval in his life this year.  In July, Suzanne and Heath moved into their new apartment and took him with them.  They did not see him for the first week after they moved.  That was his way of communicating his displeasure.  Then they brought him in the car to the pond for the holiday.  At one point on the trip, he rolled the window down and tried to jump out.  However, much to everyone's surprise, once he arrived at the pond, he adjusted beautifully.  He made the shed apartment his new home.  He had many favorite spots in the shed including the top of the printer where he could look out the window towards the chicken coop.  

Suzanne was so happy to see our pets that she even took over some of my least favorite chores.  She noticed the Buddy was scratching his ears and I had to admit that I had not cleaned them in awhile.  So she with Emily's help rectified that problem immediately.  While she was at it, Frankie's ears got cleaned too.  

Possibly, from Suzanne and Heath's point of view the best thing about this visit was that we were able to wear Finn out occasionally.  It looks like Finn was so worn out that he slept all the way on the car trip back to Dallas.  Of course, he had to share the back seat with Emily as she decided to spend a week of her break back in Dallas with Suzanne and Heath and Finn and Shark.  She must have been worn out too.