The Wonderful World of Dogs

I guess you are all wondering why I would title a blog like this............well here goes. In our new little town of Baños. A friend of ours let us know that there was a dog show in town. She suggested to us to enter, because she had seen Isis play dead, sit, stay etc. All those doggie lessons paid off. So, came the big day, Saturday. At home, (our new home and we are even in it) Dane showed signs of being scared and not wanting to go. I talked him into it, like a good mother does. Using only the latest tools in parental motivation, good old fashioned guilt. We arrived at the allotted time 9:00, and of course they were just about 3 hours late to start. We amused ourselves with talking with kids and showing them some of Isis´s tricks. Rachelle, like a good 16 year old, abandoned us for a guy with a huge Napolitan Mastiff. I wonder how she started that conversation.? ¨My, what a big dog you have.... Anyway I digress from the more important topic. We, the pet owners all gathered at the colluseum (sp?), where the sponcers played the music at decibles that could cause permanent auditory damage and require fluency in sign language. The guy on the microphone, was talking like it was his big debute and we all kept hoping he would relax into his hari krishna chants. (this is another story only to be told another time.) I was wondering how on earth Dane was going to be able to even talk with Isis for commands. Finally, at about 12:00, it was Dane and Isis´s group, Inteligente. (spanish) They all lined up, I had to help a bit with Dane´s spanish and understanding. And believe it or not, Isis did as she was told, with only a bit of hesitation. When she played dead she got a round of applause and an awwwwwwwwwwwww from the crowd. We knew then she was a ringer. The other dogs performed amazing feats of ignoring, and eating treats, and showing how well they had trained their people into falsely believing they would perform tricks. I think they just didn´t want the other dogs to think that they were pussies. Pardon the pun, but I just couldn´t resist. Needless to say, after the line up for the crowd voting, by applause, Isis was undefeated in her win. We were very proud, and Dane and Isis won a medal, big bag of food (that was probably why Isis even listened) , doggie bowl and a certificate, with MAS Inteligente on it. If they only knew the real story. Dane received lots of attention from the other kids and in fact was asked to help teach other people how to train their dogs. I think that Floyd our former dog trainer would cough up his lunch. Anyway, Dane had a great time and Rachelle made time too. Over all it was a great experience. But as Rob said, It is easy to look like a bright bulb when you are in a dark room. Unfortunately, the story does continue on, in that since Isis felt she was a star, and did so well, and in her arrogance felt she deserved a special treat. I left on the counter in the kitchen of the new house, a lovely broiled chicken that you can buy here ready to take home. Yes,,,, you guessed it, our little champion ate the whole thing when no one was looking. End of greatness and right onto the s---t list. Proving once again , Mas inteligente.
We have moved into our house, and almost immediately Rob went out bought a sledge hammer and crashed out with all his might the horrible designers nightmare of a water feature. He struck with revenge for all home designers everywhere who have to repair the damage fauz pas´s when people decorate their own homes with the taste of velvet Elvis´s. Here is how a water feature is created here in Ecuador. First, you take cement, and throw into the mix, river rock and lava rock, then chizel out a couple of holes in the wall, pipe in water from the laundry room for the top of your waterfall, and let the water drain right out of the bottom hole of you waterfall, enjoying the further waterfall as it cascades across the cement patio, watching as it amble gracefully into the garden, abuntantly flowing under the cement block fence and down to the neighbors property 15 ft down to create that white rushing that waterfalls get over elevation. They do not use a water pump to circulate the water and keep it isolated but they would much rather let the water run till the neighbors had possibly flooded out. For a water bill of $2.00 a month I guess they felt it was worth the cost.
The house sounds like an empty hall because there is no furnature and no curtains, we are waiting for sofas to be delivered and other stuff too. In the mean time, we are not having idle hands, we have after some ado, especially with the language barrier (funny really) have organized a husband and wife team, to dig out a trench at the upper neighbors place and put in drainage for the large amount of water that would like to actually come through the cement walls and entertain us with Elvis impressions or Christ, or mother mary impressions of mold and water stains. Fortunately, the Inquirer doesn´t know or we would be hounded with reporters and believers. Hey, maybe we will let them in and make some money on the deal. But I really would hate to exploit Elvis like all those other peasants have.
I finally have started a new painting and when it is done I will start the process for you all to see it.
Well, I am almost done here, except to say they here we do not have a last name, but we are being referred to as the CANADIAN family. Believe me, like all small towns news travels fast and we are hot news. Especially, since Isis is hot personality. Gotta go and organize an ink pad so that Isis can sign autographs with her paw.
Talk with you all later and keep laughing