Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine

Ok so here is the thing, at this present time eleven dogs and six people live in my house. Of those dogs six are over the age of six some are already showing their age and my Great pyrenese mix, Angus is turning thirteen at Christmas. Old dogs are great dogs, they already know a lot about how the world works and you can trust them with more because they are wise :) Old dogs are also stubborn and set.I have given up on teaching most of my dogs new things or correcting "undesirable" behaviors for the most part. Angus counter surfs and steals the butter, it is just one of his "isms" at this point and it is much easier to simply put the butter away than it is to change Angus. Keeper hates sharing her food bowl so she gets her own. Sundance won't eat in front of people so we simply give her space. They each have their own old dog habits that over time we accepted. The younger dogs are a different story, they have yet to earn the right to be crotchety and eccentric.

Two of the people in my house are my children, Mini Chaos and Tiny But Mighty and I   think somehow we apply the same rule of thumb to them , MC is in highschool now and she is looking for her identity and who she will be in the world and TBM still has to do as she is told because she is still learning. 

I was thinking about this today as I watched my elderly friend stretch out across the couch ( something the younger dogs are NOT allowed to do) and I listened to TBM argue her case for ice cream for breakfast. I suppose it isn't fair but it is what it is :)