Carol Reiter: Stormy weather fun, scary

This rainy, wet, windy week played havoc with my dogs, and with me.

Jan does not like the thunder. Period. Like a lot of dogs, she's petrified of it. If she's in the house, she tries to find a hidey-hole, which is usually under my covers in my bed, and she's usually not the cleanest dog in the world, so I kick her out.

Jan and Peg both spend their days in a big, covered kennel, with two big dog houses to keep them warm and dry.

They hate it.

Both of those girls think the kennel is punishment, and they know that without it they would be out hassling horses, chasing cats and generally being pains.

But that kennel keeps them confined, and it would keep them dry if they would let it. But instead, both of them find the place in the kennel that isn't covered, and they dig in the mud and roll in it and just generally have a great time.

One evening this week, when I came home, Jan looked like she had just taken a mud bath. She had mud caked all over her body, it was even inside her ears. I worked to get it off before she came in the house, but she was wet too, so she was still pretty dirty when she came in.

Of course, she headed to my bed, but I beat her to it. I told her to stay off the bed, go find a dry place to lay down, and leave me alone.

Jan just sat by the bed, and made those big sad puppy-dog eyes at me. She was cold, and wet, and she wanted to get warm, preferably by snuggling down under the covers of my bed.

But big mean me told her no, she had to stay off the bed.

Meanwhile, Peg and Moss were playing, and they were both pretty dirty too. Moss has the entire yard to play in, and can also go under the back porch to get out of the rain. The porch is covered, but when it rains hard and the wind blows, the porch gets wet. But there is a huge place under the porch where the dogs can stay dry.

Moss doesn't like to stay dry. He likes to play, and an energetic puppy needs a lot of room to do that. He runs up and down the yard, playing with toys and generally having a good time. He doesn't care if it's raining, he's a border collie, and all border collies love the cold and the wet.

So Moss and Peg have to go in their crates at night. Peg is really good about doing this, she knows that there's always a treat in that crate, and most of the time there's a chewy too.

But Moss hates his crate. He knows that if he's not in it, he could be having fun, playing with toys, chasing my Slacker cat, and just being bad. Inside the crate, he can't do anything except demolish his blanket and bed.

But I'm the boss, and Moss and Peg both end up in their crates, where they dry off pretty quickly. While I'm getting them in the crates, Jan is trying to sneak up on the bed, and I keep telling her "no, off." It works for about 30 seconds each time, and then she tries again.

Then there's Len. Because his kennel isn't covered, he spends rainy days in the house. He's happy as a clam, he's managed to get a bag of dog treats, but that's all so far this week. I have finally learned, after almost 10 years, that Len is a chow hound who has unbelievable powers to find unprotected food. So I hide everything. My bread is now stored above my head, in a cupboard that even big Lenny can't reach. Every single piece of edible anything is put up, and I have finally frusted Len. That box of dog treats was a mistake, I just plain forgot I had left them where Lenny could reach them.

But at least Len is dry and clean at night. He goes outside when I come home, and then it's right back in the house to settle down for the night. He's at the age where he sleeps most of the day, and isn't as destructive as he used to be.

To top the week off, our power went off for more than 24 hours during the big rain and wind storm on Wednesday. I came home to a cold, dark house and wet, muddy dogs. I got as many candles lit as I could find, but they were not much use in the country dark.

I got the dogs in, changed my clothes and went to bed. At least I could be warm there. Peg and Moss were in rare form, they actually went in their crates without any problem. Jan tried to figure out the candles, but she stayed off my bed. I had enough candles that I could easily read by candlelight, so I settled in for the duration.

That's when Slacker came in. This big gray tabby cat loves his comfort, and he likes to lay right in front of the little heater I use at night. When he jumped on my bed, he was completely flipped out. Not only were there candles right next to his sleeping place, there was no heat. He looked at me a couple of times, then finally laid down, I swear with a humph, and scrunched up close to me to try to get warm.

So the dogs and I fight our way through the mud and the rain and the cold, and I fight with Slacker over rights to the heater, when the power is on. He likes the heat, I like the heat, and it's a battle of wills to see who gets to hog it. I usually win at first, but then I wake up and the cat is stretched out in front of the heater, and I'm freezing.

I hope the rain keeps up, we need it. But I also hope that my dogs finally get some manners and learn to stay out of the wet part of their kennels and yards. I don't have a lot of faith in that, but I can always hope.

Reporter Carol Reiter can be reached at (209) 385-2486 or creiter@mercedsun-star.com.