Chip is a great dog, he good at his job of barking when strangers drive up, he is quite convincing when I am outside but haven't told him it is ok (some people are even scared of him which I myself find funny as he is such a wimp! Look here for the best Chip story ever!), he enjoys hanging out with the kids and the cows and chickens. Pigs are a bit challenging for him as that electric fence really does bite! When the pigs are loose they have no fear of him after only a little time has passed..they know he is all bark and no bite!
The thing Chip does best, besides drool all over Papa, is be suspicious! If our neighbor guy is gone for a bit and then goes back TO HIS OWN HOUSE Chip is suspicious. He barks and carries on like the aliens have landed and are stealing all the dogs! Sometimes. The next time the guy will be home for three days before Chip notices and then the aliens have landed! Some mornings we hear furious barking, he's really getting into it, from under the porch, (remember there are dog snatching ALIENS out there!) because our other neighbor has started to (become an alien dog snatcher? Nope. Come walking up to the house at 7am? Nope! [Chip hates people who walk up the driveway they are sneaky and quite and they wake him up from his nap!] Nope!!) our neighbor has the audacity to, to, to PLOW HIS OWN DRIVEWAY! Mow his own lawn or MY GOODNESS....start his 4 wheeler!!! REALLY!! Those aliens really are hard at work this morning!!
Chip will be 3 this fall and he is showing some signs of maturing.. Our neighbor, the one with the lawn mower, plow and 4 wheeler, takes a walk everyday with his wife and his little dog.. or just him and the little dog. Every day without fail.. never misses a day. Sometimes several times a day. When Chip was in his 1st year he would cause SUCH a ruckus every SINGLE time Mr. R took his walk. We'd have to go out and talk him down EVERY. SINGLE. TIME!!! He also tried to go visit the little dog who was also just a puppy then. She came on the yard once or twice and they did the sniffing thing. She stands about Oh.. 7 inches MAX off the ground as a full grown dog now so it was pretty interesting for both of them. He didn't know dogs came in that size and neither did she! Mr. R would call her and mostly she'd obey and go to him but once he did end up coming into the yard to get her. I think Chip went out on the road once too.. but we soon cured that. In Chips second year he would hit and miss.. some days the dog snatching aliens where out in full force and other days he was too busy napping. Lately he's been more missing then hitting and I for one am grateful. Mr.R still takes his little dog out several times a day for a walk but Chip has decided it is no longer worth his notice.. UNLESS... they decide to ride his bike ( Mr. R has a little basket on the front for the dog).. then the aliens are OUT and are going to GET him!!!!
J got a chunk of rope out yesterday and attached it to Chips collar and started to work with Chip a little bit. Chip has never been leash trained, actually normally he FREAKS if you attach anything to his collar. But yesterday he did really well. Maybe he is maturing after all!! I have a funny feeling though that Chip will never outgrown his suspicious nature :)
