The Bark-ley Center

We think a lot of you who read our blog think that all we do is sleep and eat, and that's probably because the two verbs that appear more than any others in our blogs are "sleep" and "eat" (the word that appears most is "mama", but that's not a verb...it's a requirement of a happy life).

And, you would - generally - be correct. We have both mastered the art and science of propelling our little bodies at a reasonable pace and then - suddenly - stopping and dropping. (In Rozi's case, there's often a "roll" component, too). We can sleep on the floor, on a pile of clothing, on a rug, on a bed, on another pile of clothing, in the closet on a pile of clothing, in a hamper filled with a pile of clothing... You get the idea.

And, as for eating: it's more than a life imperative; it's a hobby. We like to eat most anything that is given to us, especially when it's not really dog-centric. We recently wrote about our yummy experience of helping our mama as she goes about making cookies, and we've talked about how much we enjoy snacks like peanuts and pretzels and popcorn and potato chips. So, it would be fair to say that we're really good at eating, too.

But, what often gets missed, and what we wish we were recognized for more often, is the work that we do protecting this house. We know that there are oh so many people and other doggies who are planning to attack the house. Sure, they walk past the house as if they didn't even notice that it's here, but we have a sixth sense (or, if you count Rozi's ability to eat practically anything her "sixth", then a seventh sense) that there are lurkers everywhere.

That innocent looking couple pushing a baby in a carriage? They're more than likely hoping that this house was empty so they can eat all of the cookies that our mama baked.

That person running along, listening to music on a phone? They're more than likely wishing the house was empty so they could watch Animal Planet on our big TV.

That doggie who was on a string attached to a person's hand? It's more likely than not that they wish that we were on vacation so that they could eat all of our greenies.

And, so it's up to the two of us to continually monitor the perimeter of the house, making sure that not only do we keep out those people who are thinking about coming inside, but we also want to make a public statement that if you even try to sneak into this house, you'll have to deal with our fierceness. Sure, sometimes we forget that our mama likes to have people come to our house, and so we keep the chorus of yips and yawps going when visitors come, but isn't it best to be safe?

The reason we're talking about this today is that we've spent nearly three hours (!) making sure that the group of people who were walking around our house with machines that make lots of noise and machines that cut into our bushes and other stuff that we don't really know how to describe stay on the outside. We started our discussions with them from upstairs, hoping that our (well, Izzi's) cries to them to turn around and go back to their garage were ignored. So, we moved onto phase two: yelling at them from their level, the main floor. friend lies underneath).

We went back and forth between the big windows in the front and the glass doors at the back, hoping they'd get the picture and that our insistence that they remove themselves be met with compliance. It was not. And, we began to grow tired of the back-and-forth running that we were doing. And, yet, we did not stop.

We even tried another attack from above, pointing out to the intruders that they were not welcome here (and to stay away from the shed, where our secret

It was a siege and the only reason that we are now talking about it that out counter attack was successful! They have gone. And, if we do say so ourselves, it's not very likely that they'll be coming back.

And, so, another successful defense behind us, perhaps it's time to work on our hobby again.

Arf, Yip, Arf, Yip,
Izzi & Rozi