SHAKE IT UP BABY

Things had gotten pretty darn quiet around the old dog ranch.

The dogs were into their routine; go out in the morning, perform their morning constitution, (I know what that means, but what does that mean?) bark at the horses, eat, sleep, get up and sniff other dog's constitutions, sleep, bark at the horses, and come in for the night only to start all over again in the morning. Pretty much same old, same old.

What can be said about your life, pretty much same old, same old?

Our dogs' well-ordered lives changed the day we brought home, Mugs, the puppy.

Mugs, a goofball hairball, was unaware of the routine. He knew nothing about letting sleeping dogs lie and would jump, lick and nip on the older members of the tribe all day and most of the night (when not enjoying one of his copious constitutions). When the old timers would attempt to get out of harm's way, lest they be licked, nipped and jumped upon to within an inch of their lives, Mugs, being a member of the herding group, would bite rapidly and repeatedly at their fleeing and flailing legs.

The sanctity of the older dogs' feeding dishes was also not honored, turning what used to be a tranquil scene of dogs enjoying a sumptuous meal of compressed corn, poultry and insect by products into a grade school cafeteria with the lunch room monitor missing. These daily inconveniences for the older dogs paled in comparison with the very real situation of rearranging tribal hierarchy. Our alpha dog had to reestablish his dominance; the previous omega dog, at least temporarily, moved up the pecking (literally) order; and the ones in the middle had to reshuffle.

The moment Mugs set his four big, uncoordinated feet on our property, our dogs' days had stopped being the same. Maybe it was for self-preservation, but the older dogs seemed to begin seeing the world through Mugs' eyes. There was a vibrant new life in every animal coupled with a new appreciation of everything around them. Mugs brought stimulating new smells, invigorating new activities, and exciting new relationships into a ho-hum "old" situation. I may be wrong, but if you catch him in the right light, since nutty Mugs arrived even our hound is smiling.

If you don't have a "Mugs" in your life, get one.

Lesson Embrace the crazy; it keeps you sane.

---