I got a bit of a shock the other day when I was lying in my bed sleeping through the afternoon.
After lunch, I had locked the front door and gone into the bedroom with the dogs Mini Corgi, Cookie and Audi. I had closed the bedroom door to get some peace and quiet from Pip Hans and his feathered friends who live in the living room.
About half an hour later I wake up to the bedroom door being opened with a bang. The dogs don't make a sound, but they roll their eyes, yawn and wag their tails. It had obviously been decided that I would be the one on guard.
My husband Birger, for him it was, was just as scared as I was. He had been hit by the worst of the man flu and had therefore driven home from work to rest. Since the door was locked and no dogs seemed to be present, he thought he was home alone.
Watchdog and mine alone. Not a sound when the man "breaks" into our house – on the other hand, I get a notification every day in very high tones when the neighbor comes home from work. They must have misunderstood the concept.
Since Birger's bed was already filled with dogs, he chose to lie down on the sofa. Here he lay for two days with our ear thermometer in his hand and sighed, while loudly reporting his current temperature about every twenty minutes. However, I owe it to Birger to mention that this is only the third time in the 17 years I have known him that he has gone home from work because he has been sick.
While Birger lay there on the couch, fighting the flu bravely, he gained a new insight into my daily life with the dogs. It prompted him to ask the question: “Tell me - are you always surrounded by dogs?”
When he asked, I was sitting on the couch with Cookie around my neck, Audi on my lap and Mini lying very close to me.
Birger usually goes to work at around 6 am and doesn't get home until after 5 pm. The children go to school at 7:30 am and don't get home until 2:45 pm at the earliest. In the meantime, I'm almost always with the dogs.
The dogs keep me going. As soon as the alarm clock rings, our everyday life together starts. Mini always sleeps under the covers in the middle between Birger and I. Audi sleeps at the foot of my bed. Cookie has her own “room” because she HATES being disturbed when she sleeps and has therefore often come close to biting Birger’s kneecaps at night in anger that he has turned over in bed. Well, we all have our little quirks. The rest of the day, Cookie is a sweet and loving dog, who flashes her little fat belly from time to time to be petted.
There is almost a festive atmosphere among the dogs when I get out of bed, perhaps because they are happy to see that I am still alive, but probably more because they usually get a Good Morning biscuit. Should I forget the biscuit, Audi will definitely remember it.
After we send the kids to school, I eat breakfast. The last bite is always shared between the dogs. Mini Corgi takes care of that.
As soon as I put down the empty plate, Cookie is on my neck. Cookie suffers from what I call KKiR, chronic gunpowder in the ass. She scratches, does, bites, sits on my lap and stares me in the face. Then she runs around to the other dogs and tells them that NOW is when something really fun is going to happen – and then I have three dancing dogs all over the place. It goes on like this until I get up and put on my coat.
Cookie goes to agility and Hoopers. Audi and Mini go to Nosework. Weather permitting, they are often in the car all three of them, then we find a place where we can go for a walk afterwards.
Once a week I rent a large fenced area at the local dog center. It gives me a nice inner peace to know that it is only the dogs that I have to deal with. No other dogs or people and no animals that they can chase. In the area there are a lot of fun obstacles that provide a basis for training body control, we can train basic obedience, recall and just play and have fun.
Once back home, we have to take care of the birds and chickens. They especially enjoy the visit to the chicken coop. While Mini observes, Audi goes around sniffing the hens' behinds. Cookie checks the nests for eggs. If she finds any, she cleverly covers them with hay and sits down and keeps watch so that no one but mom gets hold of the eggs. I suspect she occasionally "borrows" an egg and buries it in the garden.
Every now and then I need to catch a chicken. This is where the Mini Corgi is a great help. I can place her in strategic places and make her move forward or stop when I ask her to.
Now we've reached our midday nap, which we can just about catch before the kids get home.
I make dinner while Mini lies in the kitchen and keeps an eye on me, Audi stands and scratches my leg, and little Cookie lies right behind me with her little round belly straight up. I can easily cuddle her while I stir a pot.
After I eat, the dogs get their food. In the summer, it's sprinkled out in the garden. In the winter, they get it in an activity toy or in a snuffle mat.
Next, we're doomed to the sofa until we go to bed.
Yes, I am almost always surrounded by dogs, and I am proud to be allowed to be part of the pack.
About this week's blogger:
Helene is an early retiree and spends a large part of her time with her animals. The animal team consists of 4 dogs, 1 cat, 15 free-range chickens, approx. 80 aviary birds and her daughter has three axolotls. And now she and Cookie can also call themselves a reading dog team.
She loves writing short stories, poems and stories from her everyday life and enjoys reading a good Scandinavian crime novel.
In addition to Helene and all the animals, the family consists of Birger 55 years old, Thor 12 years old and Sigrid 10 years old.
Part of the flock
I got a bit of a shock the other day when I was lying in my bed sleeping through the afternoon.
After lunch, I had locked the front door and gone into the bedroom with the dogs Mini Corgi, Cookie and Audi. I had closed the bedroom door to get some peace and quiet from Pip Hans and his feathered friends who live in the living room.
About half an hour later I wake up to the bedroom door being opened with a bang. The dogs don't make a sound, but they roll their eyes, yawn and wag their tails. It had obviously been decided that I would be the one on guard.
My husband Birger, for him it was, was just as scared as I was. He had been hit by the worst of the man flu and had therefore driven home from work to rest. Since the door was locked and no dogs seemed to be present, he thought he was home alone.
Watchdog and mine alone. Not a sound when the man "breaks" into our house – on the other hand, I get a notification every day in very high tones when the neighbor comes home from work. They must have misunderstood the concept.
Since Birger's bed was already filled with dogs, he chose to lie down on the sofa. Here he lay for two days with our ear thermometer in his hand and sighed, while loudly reporting his current temperature about every twenty minutes. However, I owe it to Birger to mention that this is only the third time in the 17 years I have known him that he has gone home from work because he has been sick.
While Birger lay there on the couch, fighting the flu bravely, he gained a new insight into my daily life with the dogs. It prompted him to ask the question: “Tell me - are you always surrounded by dogs?”
When he asked, I was sitting on the couch with Cookie around my neck, Audi on my lap and Mini lying very close to me.
Birger usually goes to work at around 6 am and doesn't get home until after 5 pm. The children go to school at 7:30 am and don't get home until 2:45 pm at the earliest. In the meantime, I'm almost always with the dogs.
The dogs keep me going. As soon as the alarm clock rings, our everyday life together starts. Mini always sleeps under the covers in the middle between Birger and I. Audi sleeps at the foot of my bed. Cookie has her own “room” because she HATES being disturbed when she sleeps and has therefore often come close to biting Birger’s kneecaps at night in anger that he has turned over in bed. Well, we all have our little quirks. The rest of the day, Cookie is a sweet and loving dog, who flashes her little fat belly from time to time to be petted.
There is almost a festive atmosphere among the dogs when I get out of bed, perhaps because they are happy to see that I am still alive, but probably more because they usually get a Good Morning biscuit. Should I forget the biscuit, Audi will definitely remember it.
After we send the kids to school, I eat breakfast. The last bite is always shared between the dogs. Mini Corgi takes care of that.
As soon as I put down the empty plate, Cookie is on my neck. Cookie suffers from what I call KKiR, chronic gunpowder in the ass. She scratches, does, bites, sits on my lap and stares me in the face. Then she runs around to the other dogs and tells them that NOW is when something really fun is going to happen – and then I have three dancing dogs all over the place. It goes on like this until I get up and put on my coat.
Cookie goes to agility and Hoopers. Audi and Mini go to Nosework. Weather permitting, they are often in the car all three of them, then we find a place where we can go for a walk afterwards.
Once a week I rent a large fenced area at the local dog center. It gives me a nice inner peace to know that it is only the dogs that I have to deal with. No other dogs or people and no animals that they can chase. In the area there are a lot of fun obstacles that provide a basis for training body control, we can train basic obedience, recall and just play and have fun.
Once back home, we have to take care of the birds and chickens. They especially enjoy the visit to the chicken coop. While Mini observes, Audi goes around sniffing the hens' behinds. Cookie checks the nests for eggs. If she finds any, she cleverly covers them with hay and sits down and keeps watch so that no one but mom gets hold of the eggs. I suspect she occasionally "borrows" an egg and buries it in the garden.
Every now and then I need to catch a chicken. This is where the Mini Corgi is a great help. I can place her in strategic places and make her move forward or stop when I ask her to.
Now we've reached our midday nap, which we can just about catch before the kids get home.
I make dinner while Mini lies in the kitchen and keeps an eye on me, Audi stands and scratches my leg, and little Cookie lies right behind me with her little round belly straight up. I can easily cuddle her while I stir a pot.
After I eat, the dogs get their food. In the summer, it's sprinkled out in the garden. In the winter, they get it in an activity toy or in a snuffle mat.
Next, we're doomed to the sofa until we go to bed.
Yes, I am almost always surrounded by dogs, and I am proud to be allowed to be part of the pack.
About this week's blogger:
Helene is an early retiree and spends a large part of her time with her animals. The animal team consists of 4 dogs, 1 cat, 15 free-range chickens, approx. 80 aviary birds and her daughter has three axolotls. And now she and Cookie can also call themselves a reading dog team.
She loves writing short stories, poems and stories from her everyday life and enjoys reading a good Scandinavian crime novel.
In addition to Helene and all the animals, the family consists of Birger 55 years old, Thor 12 years old and Sigrid 10 years old.