Mabel's Jungle Gym

Billy and his parent's are in Florida this week on vacation. Did I say vacation? I meant on business. Sorry. They're schmoozing with clients this week in West Palm Beach. Golfing by day and eating by night. So what does that mean for me...I'm the dog sitter!!

You may be wondering since you don't know me very well yet, "what kind of dogs are they?" Well, Billy and I have a corgi/basset mix named Mabel. Mabel was adopted from A Forever Home in Chantilly, VA. We spent months try to adopt a puppy here in NoVa. I swear trying to get a puppy is harder than trying to get a kid!! She came to us when she was 2 months old and absolutely adorable (not that she isn't now)!! I love her to pieces, but she's got some serious baggage! Separation anxiety. Couldn't be crate trained. CHEWED ALL MY SHOES. Barks at everything and everyone who comes near our house! And did i say separation anxiety? But I love her anyway and I can't imagine my life without her.

Here's her in the snow this past winter.

And trick-or-treating in Old Town.

Enough about my little munchkin. Here's what is living in my house all week. My house as in an 1,100-square foot condo.

Babe. She's 140 pounds. Slimmed down from about 160. She's my in-laws St. Bernard. She's super sweet, loves all people, and couldn't hurt a fly; but she's huge! And coming to my house is like boot camp for her. So she's mad at me right now. I get the evil eye and she grunts at me. She gets no people in my house (she eats any and all things at my in-laws including pickled herring) and is NOT allowed to sleep on my bed. But she gives Mabel something to do all day while I'm work besides looking to get into trouble, so it's great having her around.

The real hard part about having these two in the house by myself though is walking them. Babe strolls along at about a snails pace. While Mabel is more like a jack rabbit. Running back and forth and back forth all the mean while tangling the leases while I'm desperately trying to scoop up Babe's horse poop. It was especially a lovely morning for me yesterday as I'm trying to navigate two leashes, two piles of poop (one so big I need two hands to scoop it up), and an umbrella in the pouring rain before heading to work.

The weird part about Mabel's and Babe's relationship is, is that Mabel is WAY MORE dominant. She's constantly jumping on her, gnawing at her ears, neck, face, and legs, sitting on her head, and occasionally has gotten caught humping her. She's about 1/4 of Babe's size, but dominates the girl!!! I'm just waiting for Mabel to catch one of those giant paws across the head when Babe finally hits Mabel saturation. Until that point, I guess she's just going to be Mabel's jungle gym. I refer to her as Mabel's Bestie. Like BFF.

Here are some more pics of the pups together.

p.s. sorry if the format is a bit messed up. i'm just learning how to use blogger and having trouble formatting pics.