Tattletale...

Kipp is a dog that likes order and routine. He wants to know just what is expected and he does it (well, unless there is something very tempting over there and he thinks he can get away with it). He has always gotten along wonderfully with Missy because she is very predictable - a bit grumpy and unforgiving. Try taking her ball and get bit, tug games only went for a minute or two until Miss gave Kipp "the eye" then he'd drop the tug. But it was very black and white and predictable, so that was just fine with Kipp.

Kenzi threw poor Kipp for a loop when she first arrived. His orderly world was turned upside down by a teenage spaz. She was crazy, she wanted to play, she was not all about order and routine, she was “woo-hoo life is great what can I try next”. Missy dealt with it the way she always does - with a glare and slight lip curl if Kenz crossed her line. Very effective. Kipp on the other hand is a bottom of the totem pole dog. He wasn't going to tell her to stay out of his space or to knock it off. Wasn't his place. It took him a few weeks, but he adjusted to it and learned that the crazy kid wasn't here just to wreck havoc on his orderly, predictable life and that she was kinda fun after all.

So life is good for the two of them 95% of the time. They wrestle, they play, they chew on each other's ears. However, there are a few things that still bother Kipp.

His “kennel” command is a good example. After I'm done exercising/training/working the dogs in the morning I say “Kennel” and Kipp runs right in his kennel then waits for me to shut the gate. He always has. It's just what you do when you're done playing – you go to your kennel, get a drink and snooze. Not Kenzi. Her trip to her kennel is something that Billy in the Family Circus would be proud of. Check this out, check that out, look! there's a cat!, stop in Kipp's kennel grab a drink, go to her kennel waiting outside with eyes that say “do I have to?”. I picture Kipp watching thinking, “what is she doing? – that's not right!”. So Kipp has found a new way to deal with it. He runs in his kennel, then stands there and barks at Kenzi until she is in her's. Even though dogs can't exactly speak, it's pretty clear what he's saying – “I'm being good but SHE isn't!!”

It amuses me greatly.