The Infamous Holly Tales
Holly's Protege
Six weeks ago the girls and I welcomed a brand new Malamute arrival named Kwest into our household. To my surprise Holly promptly took the 8 week old little black and white ball of fur under her wing and started showing him the ropes. Initially I thought this was a great thing...she had him housetrained by 10 weeks, he learned to use the dog door effortlessly, and he never touched anything that wasn't his. What a little angel of a pup. I should have known better. After all, he's being tutored by the same Holly that tried to blow up my house.
My first hint that something might be amiss was Kwest's sudden fascination with my floor rugs. In the past the floor rug fetish always was Holly's. Now just what was she teaching my pup???
When Kwest was about 10 weeks old I returned from taking out the trash to find Holly and Kwest huddled by my linen closet very intent on something. Closer observation proved that Holly was very carefully showing the pup how to open that cabinet with her paw. He was of course doing his best to follow her lead and putting those big puppy paws to good use. There is absolutely nothing in that cabinet that should be of interest to the dogs, so I suppose this was simply a training exercise - for what I'm afraid to ask. My linen closet now requires the same key that is needed to access all the other cabinets in my house.
Some time later I was out in the yard with all the dogs and made the mistake of turning my back on them. When I looked again Holly was standing under my almond tree with a big grin on her face. The almond's aren't ripe yet, but I guess she decided it's never too early to start perfecting the pups
harvesting techniques. Last year she had to do it herself (and I'll always regret not having a camera handy when I came home to discover my Malamute 10 feet up the almond tree). I did get a shot of the pup, and someday I'll figure out how he got up there. Short of Holly giving him a boost I still can't figure it out.
Holly is known for her dish washing abilities, and I guess she couldn't resist passing them along to the pup. Well, either that or she just thought he needed a bath. One night I took my eyes off the dogs long enough to answer a phone call (and hang up on the person trying to sell me insurance). Next thing I knew Kwest had disappeared. He wasn't in the kitchen, he hadn't snuck past me into the living room, and he wasn't in the yard. Naturally (for my household at least) I checked the dishwasher. Guess who was happily sitting among my dirty dishes? That picture is still in the camera, but I did get one. Hope it turns out. Of course we all know who unlocked the dishwasher, and then closed it again once Kwest was inside. Back to Home Depot I went to buy child proof locks for the dishwasher, stove, and fridge. I just know the stove and fridge would be next, and that's one project I'd rather nip in the bud.
Up to this point Holly had been responsible for all of poor Kwest's little mis-adventures. Last night he proved very capable of handling things himself. All the big dogs were outside and Kwest was happily playing with his own toys, so I took the opportunity to do some straightening up. I know, I should have been watching him closer. When he started "Awrooo, wooooing" and bouncing around I smiled and looked to see what he was playing with. It took me a moment to realize it was the cordless phone that I had thought was safely out of reach on the table. Kwest was very excited and having a ball...and the phone was making noise back at him.
Apparently Kwest decided last night was a good time to call his 18 week old Siberian cousin Bart. Bart lives in Texas, and has a very understanding human named Mat who got a kick out of the surprise phone call from my dog. He's thinking of doing some carting when Bart is old enough, so we chatted for a few minutes. I'm always happy to make new sled dog owning friends, though I have to admit this takes the cake for wierd ways to do so. If it had been Holly I would have blamed her for attempting some atchmaking (Mat is single and got a kick out of the crank phone call from my dog...that in itself makes him interesting in my book). In Kwest's case I guess he just wanted a new friend. I wonder what the phone call to Texas from California is going to cost me??? I think I'd better check my phone bill to be sure none of the dogs has called any other unsuspecting strangers.
So, does anyone else ever get the feeling that our Mals are collectively conspiring to drive us all nuts??
