Leah, this one is right up your alley!

BTW....very jazzy display. Inviting enough for me to stroll by and try a bite...although I prefer pancakes ! AND, my brother in law is a maple producer

The tricolored one is an English Shepard and the black and white is a border collie (shaved). We have an extreme tick problem in New Jersey and my house is in very deep woods. We've all been hosts for Lyme disease many times which makes me question what I believe is the premature feeling of aging joints when that probably should be another 10 years off or more despite successful treatment numerous times.

The English Shepard known as America's farm dog, is typically used in herding cattle goats horses... Etc.  she has an amazing capacity for endurance and speed. I have never seen a dog run so fast in my life and just when you think she's maxed out, there's a little turbo button inside that moves her along as if someone it ignited a jet back pack.  She weighs about 40 pounds remarkably family-friendly in fact from day one ( since I could never tolerate the screaming puppy nights of a new dog) I put her in the bed between my wife and I. It is now 13 months later the three of us appear to be quite happy.  Funny you say this but this morning I woke up with her eyes 4 inches from my own with her head on my pillow and her body stretched out between my wife and I.  Of course the border Collie, Willow, cannot be left out.  She too believes there is a place in this ménage à trois for her,

And being an equal opportunity household, she is not wrong and always welcome.

She does however have a very unusual issue.  She will ball up a blanket into the size of a softball, stick the entire thing and her mouth and make sucking sounds with her throat. Eventually her back teeth wear a hole into whatever she has and then she pulls the stuffing out particularly if it's a blanket.

We had to Golden retrievers one died at 17 the other we put down at 16 due to an increasing growth on her hind leg.  Hardest days of my life.  And I never wanted a dog again... Obviously my wife won.  But I am not complaining. 

I did fence in about 2 acres of yard before the trees got to heavily grown, and allow them to have access to the entire back area.  It keeps their energy burned off and trust me they are extremely energetic.

But nothing I tell you is new to you as you to have a dog and anything anyone tells you about their dog you probably already know as any other dog person would.

Much regard

.

It seems to be a common event. In fact, that's my spot she's in

Your dogs actually eat smoked foods? I guess simply stated the instinct is still stronger than the palate. The other day the tricolored one came back with a deer skull in its mouth. I tried giving  the black and white one, a strip of pork from the ribs we had two weeks ago but it was hard finding a spot that was not too spicy.  I honestly don't like spicy myself.  I never realized how the black pepper would react in the rub and sauce. 



Our two golden retrievers lived 15 and 17 years with essentially pedigree dog food and table scraps, Italian bread English muffins, popcorn. They were not fussy nor overweight..  It was nothing fancy in their diet, there was no holistic or organic materials and it worked fine. These two guys are a little bit more discerning and unfortunately I cook breakfast for them every morning.  I'll take some turkey slices or ham and sauté it in olive oil and then make them scrambled eggs. Six days out of seven they enjoy it. I've given them crab stuffed salmon on its left over and they love that too.  The youngest at eight months but has exceeded our tricolor by about 3 inches in height. Her aggression is developing steadily as they play and she realizes that she now can be the boss because of her size.



It was my true feelings that after the Golden retrievers we never had another dog. Those two used the same computer chip in their heads and did things nearly identically.  It was a very hard time when they were gone. It was my wife's frequent comments about needing another dog that prompted the acquisition of the English Shepard.  This is truly a remarkable breed however.  They are super intelligent, amazingly affectionate, and essentially a hard-working farm mutt. We'd never heard of them before. If you get some free time go online and look at some of the videos of these dogs herding cows and goats .  The man who bought my friends house up the road is a dog geese chaser trainer.  He always has several border Collie's that are so well-trained it can leave you with your jaw on the ground as these amazing dogs simply look at his hands and follow complex commands..  Jokingly one day I said to him if you should get another of those odd colored black and white ones we might consider getting a playmate for ours.  Twelve weeks later.... Playmate.



I'm sure we can go on and on dog stories forever... I'll let you go for now