You think it's been quiet?

Newsflash: Bestest Gundog earns biggest bone

 "You may not think it to look at this picture but I am exhausted! And not from hangin' on to this big bone - which is my pressie from Her-who-must-be-obeyed"
"Why?"  you ask.
"It's because I have been in charge these past couple of weeks.... actually, strictly speaking the Lindananny has been in charge but I  have been in charge of guarding her.
"Which was a 24/7 job - don't think the pair of us slept a wink - me for worryin 'bout her and her for worrying 'bout all the other chaps on the place. Thank dog the Understudies were off at boot camp .... more of which anon.

"You sniff what I sniff?"

"Meanwhile back here at the ranch ( as they say somewhere) my biggest headache was these little chaps. They're Andromeda's litter - 8 cheeky scamps who, till She & the Big Boss went off on holibobs were quietly asleep in their ark with Mum. Soon as they sniffed the air outside and realised the Boss was away and the pressure was off that was it - they were off. And then I was on duty.....

"So... how it goes on this side of th fence is...."

"There are 8 of them, with as many different ideas of what they want to do. I tell you, it takes a while to read them the rules and pull them into line They've been a real pain in the ear since then, of course. Runnin all over the fields and chatting with all the other members of the herd..... they've even taken over the empty ark next door just to get away from mum for an hour or two.
"As if that wasn't enough, there's this chestnut chappie who's cheekier than all the others put together

Ritz the innocent

. She calls him a pony but he's big and mean to us spaniels - always barin' his teeth and chasin' us out of his room if we want to pinch poo...  Anyway, his mate, Rocco (Who never does nothin' wrong) had a sore paw or two so they were confined to barracks for a while. Well, that got up Ritz's nose so when they finally got out to their field for a spin and a nibble what's the norty pony do? Yep; he decides to go AWOL along the bridleway and give the Nannylinda a nasty turn. He so norty (unlike some of us.....)....... Actually, I think he was just after gettin' a bit of attention 'cos it was The Good Horse whose sore paws gave the Nannylinda lots of sleepless hours and even a few wakin' ones and Ritz was just a wee bit jealous.....
"Anyway, life's all back to normal now.. got snarled at for rollin' in foxpoo this mornin...*sighs* .....but I got my big bone (and, yes thank you, lovely clean teeth!) and the Understudies, both of them, are back from boot camp *sighs again*...... Nannylinda's gone back to her own kennel so no more quiet nights alone together for a while (mind you, no more of those odd ball games she gets so excited about... wierd these humans are)...... So that's it then... Just got time for a little snooze before we go shut up the poultry birds & check out the screechy rats......
"And I bet you all think it's been quiet here.......................  "