Asherpark, Finn

Just For Fun

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Finn and Journey

Can you tell what’s happening in this picture? It’s me standing on Journey’s head. See how she’s got this funny look on her face? She’s trying to figure out what to do about me being so rude to her. It’s one of the silly mind games me and Journey play with each other.

I know and everybody else knows that Journey is boss. She raised me, she’s two years older than me, and she is definitely in charge at Asherpark. I have no problems with that. I’m not always real confident and I like having Journey tell me what to do sometimes.

But I’m a boy and I’ve still got a little puppy in me. Whenever I can I like to mess with Journey’s mind and see what she does.

The game starts out with Journey lying on the couch next to mom. I wait until Journey is almost asleep then leap onto her head. I’m pretty agile so I don’t actually land on her. It’s more like I’m a big head ornament. Mom quick gets her camera and takes a picture of us because Journey usually has this dreamy far away look in her eyes.

Eventually Journey gives up and jumps off the couch. We play a quick game of slam and then both settle down while mom watches the news.

I like to get up close and personal with my people. When I was a pup I had to mind my manners, but now I get away with bad behavior because I make people laugh. Here’s me sitting on Uncle Dan’s lap. He’s leaning back because I just planted a big slurpy kiss on his face.

Finn and Uncle Dan

Before I sign off I gotta show you one more picture of me on Journey’s head. It makes mom laugh every time she looks at it. I hope it makes you laugh too.

Silly Dogs

 

 

 

 

Asherpark

They’re Back!

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Finn

Yes, the alpacas are back. Turns out they weren’t very good guests at the nearby farm where they spent the summer.

Since Ash died the alpacas lost all respect for us dogs. Ash used to bite them on their butts when they got uppity, but me and Journey never developed that skill. So the alpacas started thinking they were the boss of us dogs. They even tried to stomp me when I went to say hello.

At their summer home the people had two young Anatolian Shepherds. These are guardian dogs that like to hang out with the animals and protect them from predators.

The stupid alpacas talked it over and decided they didn’t need protection and they didn’t want the dogs around. So instead of being good guests and being polite to the dogs, they got rough with them.

The shepherds were confused and embarrassed. They just wanted to be friends and the trio of nasty alpacas wouldn’t even let them in the pen.

I was glad that the owners sided with the dogs and sent the alpacas back to Asherpark. Mom isn’t happy but now me and Journey have our jobs back. Instead of chasing eagles we can run the fence line and give the alpacas the stink eye.

The only thing I regret is we don’t have as much access to the ravine where the alpacas live. But mom promised she would lock the alpacas in their barn a couple times a week so we can go down and see what they’ve been up to.

My Uncle Dan fixed up their barn really nice and made it easy for mom to lure the alpacas inside with their treats. Me and Journey will have so much fun talking trash to the alpacas. Maybe mom can get a video of us strutting our stuff. Stay tuned. It’s gonna get crazy around here!

Bean the Alpaca

 

 

 

Finn

It’s Been A While

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Finn

You can probably tell from the leaves that it’s autumn at Asherpark. That means I haven’t posted a bark since last winter. That’s just not right but I gotta tell you I’ve been busy – real busy.

Here at Asherpark it’s me, Journey, mom and our dad. Oh yeah, there’s three nasty alpacas that are constantly tormenting me and Journey too.

The reason I’ve been so busy is our dad got sick and mom got worried and Journey got anxious and I didn’t know what to do and life as we knew it turned upside down.

By now you might be asking yourself how come that made me busy. Well here’s what you need to know about us Australian Shepherds. We are born to work. If we don’t have a job we get a little crazy and usually get ourselves into trouble.

Since spring mom has spent hours and days and weeks and months taking care of dad. She was so tired we had to send the alpacas to summer camp because she didn’t have the energy to take care of them too.

Me and Journey knew mom was tired and upset and she couldn’t spend as much time with us as she wanted. She tried real hard to keep life normal for us, but we’re not dumb. We knew she was sad and worried and no matter how hard we tried she was still sad. That’s where all the busy stuff came from.

Since mom couldn’t be with us as much as usual, me and Journey figured out new games. Without the alpacas we could go down into the ravine where the alpacas used to hang out. That’s also where the eagle killed our favorite rooster and most of our hens. We visited the kill site and saw all the chicken feathers. We could smell the wild eagle scent too.

It was Journey’s idea but I bought into it right away. We would make it our new job to keep the eagles away from our property. You might think that’s not a big deal, but when you have eagles nesting around your home it’s a full time job.

Me and Journey began to hone our skills as eagle spotters. We’d each guard a patch of the property and the minute we saw an eagle in the sky we’d bark like fools and run around the place yapping at the eagles.  We had to be a little careful because we would run with our eyes on the eagles and a couple of times me and Journey ran into each other and knocked each other over.

We got real good at telling the difference between eagles, ravens, vultures, and airplanes. There were enough eagles that we didn’t bother barking at the other birds or the planes.

Over the summer our eagle chasing focused our energy. We became obsessed with the eagles and that made us forget why we were sad.

Then one day mom brought me and Journey to our quiet place where we have our naps and special talks. Mom told us that dad was finished with his treatments and life was going to be better. She said we could still chase the eagles but we were also going to go to class and practice our manners and play with our friends. Best of all mom was going to spend lots and lots of time with us and we would soon forget how we were sad and alone during the summer. And you know what? She was right!

Finn and Mom