Foley and Pocket discuss their adventures in babysitting

Foley: Wow! What a day we had on Thursday, our oldest sister brought our grandbabies over in the morning, and at night we helped Mommy babysit a whole other set of grandbabies. If it wasn't for Pocket yakking all day it would have been perfect.

Pocket: I did not yak all day. I yakked maybe once the night before, and I don't know who yakked after that.

Foley: Oh it's you, yak, yak yak. You yakked in the bed while we were sleeping then slept on Mommy's head the rest of the night leaving me in the wet spot. You know the puppy rules: You yak in the bed you sleep in it.

Pocket: Yes, True. I did yak in the bed and I yakked that morning. It's the heat. I don't like it.

Foley: Oh puppy up for heaven sakes! I'm ten years old an I'm out there walking in the heat, a youngster like you should be able to put up with the heat all day.

Pocket: Well you yakked on sister number two's rug, in her home, where she sleeps, where her children come and play with their toys.

Foley: It's that damn leather furniture, makes me sick every time, it's like lying on hot coals. Plus I was sitting next to your yak face makes me sick. Yak face always makes me sick.

Pocket: How would you know I had yak face whenever I tried to get up on the leather chair with you and Mommy you began snapping, snarling, and growling.

Foley: I didn't want your yak face messing up sister number two's leather chair.

Pocket: You just didn't want me sitting with Mommy. You are so territorial.

Foley: First of all, one of us needed to be on the floor playing with the children, the other sitting in the leather chair watching. I am ten. I am no longer a player. So Mommy and I had to watch. That meant you had to play with the children. And to tell you the truth I was not happy at all in the way you played with them. You need to engage them, roll on your back and get belly rubs, jump and dance for them. In fact, to be truthful, your performance was so poor that's why I yakked.

Pocket: You yakked because you drank a whole bowl of water when we came inside.

Foley: It was hot and I wanted to get my water before your yak face got in it.

Pocket: Yeah, then I got yakky water. But it was hot.

Foley: Yeah, hot.

Pocket: Yup, a scorcher.

Foley: Uh-hum. (Awkward pause) Soooooo

Pocket: Anyway, you scratched Mommy's arm in one of the six or seven times we got into a fight over the chair.

Foley: I told you to stay down and play with the children while I supervised and you kept trying to get into the supervisors chair.

Pocket: I got tired and the kids weren't playing with me they were hitting Daddy in the face with stuffed animals.

Foley: Oh my God that was so funny, Daddy's glasses went flying, his nose got smushed. Hah hah hah ah

Pocket: Hah Hah Hah Hah, yeah, geeze.

Foley: Hah. You know, one of the times we fought you were so viscous Daddy had to let our oldest grandbaby Mackenzie pick you up.

Pocket: Daddy said he wanted to see how she would handle because she might get her own dog in the spring.

Foley: Oh bull Daddy just got tired of getting up and separating us.

Pocket: Plus I think he was knocked silly by the stuffed animals.

Foley: Yeah. You know every time we fought little Emily and Kiley went running out of the room like we were ferocious lions.

Pocket: Oh, that was so cool! They went out yelling like they were scared of us.

Foley: Oh, I loved that. To be honest the last few times I fought with you was just to make them run.

Pocket: I know. You'd think Mommy and Daddy would have noticed we stopped fighting when they went to bed.

Foley: Oh well Daddy was knocked silly and Mommy is old. She has to be old. She has a ten year old dog for heaven's sake.

Pocket: And how about that walk after Mackenzie went to bed?

Foley: Oh, in that ritzy neighborhood they live in with the big houses out in the woods. There are all sorts of coyotes, foxes and wolves out in those parts and none of them came out to mess with us.

Pocket: Because they heard the ferocious Yorkies fighting in the house.

Foley: Yup, that was the plan. That and scaring the two small humans.

Pocket: I don't know why Daddy took us for a walk when Mackenzie went to bed.

Foley: Because when Emily and Kiley went to bed and you stayed downstairs with Daddy and Mackenzie you cried out whined for ten minutes.

Pocket: I don't like when Mommy is out of sight, you know that, I don't know if she's coming back.

Foley: Of course she's coming back, she's coming back for me, and for some reason you are always with me, so you're fine.

Pocket: Will I ever be as self assured as you are?

Foley: Oh Pocket, of course not. But once Mackenzie went to bed we settled down together with Mommy in the leather chair.

Pocket. Yeah, every time I rolled over it was like I was leaving a layer of skin from my who who on the chair.

Foley: You know that's like cow skin. Who would want to sit on a cow?

Pocket: Well, another cow.

Foley: I finally fell asleep, how about you?

Pocket: Yeah, I could fall asleep with Mommy lying in a bed of fire.

Foley: Yeah, me too. I do think we did an excellent job baby sitting.

Pocket: Me too, want to lie down and go to sleep agian?

Foley: Sounds good to me, you never know when we need to babysit again?

(Foley: Our yakking only got worse, I will be back with another blog soon about my tunny troubles and my sudden love of rice. You know, same Tanner time, same Tanner channel.)

Foley's Big Baby Sitting Injury

Foley: Saturday was groomer day and both Pocket and I came out looking even more beautiful than usual. We were going to go to the Nursing Homes to see Aunt Bev but it was raining cats and pigs so we went home for what I presumed would be a snuggle night. But a short time later the leashes were out again and we were back in the car to spend the night with our grandbabies, Mackenzie, Emily and Kiley.

Pocket: I so just wanted to sleep. I have been working night and day on my campaign, I needed to have the perfect cut for my posters and I was looking forward to a night lying to top of the pillows piled on the couch. But the next thing I knew I we were back in the car and off to our human sister Kellie’s house to baby site our grandbabies Mackenzie, Kiley and Emily.

Foley: We got there and Daddy took me to do a Vick so I didn’t do one in the house. Daddy is so funny. It’s a new house and has lots of things not finished like lighting. Daddy tripped on the bricks, over a pile of mulch, stepped in mud and sunk. I was laughing so hard I couldn’t Vick.

Pocket: I got in the house and the children come running up to me, and I can’t help myself I get excited, tail wagging, tongue hanging out, the whole nine yards. The girls are running around me, there are humans standing and talking making loud noise.

Foley: Daddy finally got tired of falling down so he brought me in the house.

Pocket: And then Princess Diva came inside.

Foley: Everyone turned their attention to me, which they should, as I was brought in. I went down on the floor and barked, and spun, and stood on my back legs, and wiggled my butt for 37.3 seconds, and then jumped on Daddy’s lap in the chair having given all I had.

Pocket: Well Foley’s entrance just sucked the air right out of the room. She hurries over to take her perch on Daddy’s lap and I jump up on the stool and then Mackenzie comes over with a flexi leash and asks if she can put it on Foley and walk her around the house and Daddy says no, Foley’s nine and she’s earned the right not to be led around the house on a leash. Then Mackenzie asks about if she can do it to me and Daddy says, “Pocket’s only two and she hasn’t earned anything yet.” What the hell? Next thing I know I’m leashed up and she’s walking me around the room.

Foley: Pocket doesn’t walk well on a leash outside, inside she got wrapped around stools, lamps, chairs, various people. Mackenzie doesn’t own a dog and doesn’t know how to unwrap one, so she just tugged on the leash pulling Pocket backwards except Pocket’s got no backwards genes so she just dug her nails into the hardwood floor and skidded and I sat on Daddy’s lap laughing.

Pocket: I love the grandbabies, I love to play with the grandbabies, but this wasn’t fun. Daddy was sitting in the big chair with Foley staring at the TV screen with that stupid game they play on, and Mommy was talking to the other loud humans, and I was being skidded around like I was on the Jamician curling team.

Foley: Mommy ended the fun by telling Mackenzie to stop and then Daddy found two Harry Potter movies on cable and all the kids settled in for the night.

Pocket: Mackenzie put me with her and I cuddled right up on the blanket and it was just perfect. Emily and Kiley would come wandering in but Mackenzie was my protector now not letting the other girls play with me. Plus I learned a lot about Harry Potter. It’s a wonderful story about a dark haired Professor trying to put up with a lot of obnoxious kids.

Foley: Midway through the second movie Mommy said it was time for the kids to go to bed so as I always do I followed her up the stairs, but there not like the stairs home, which go up four, turn, go up two more, turn, and the four more. There are about 14 of the steps and they go straight down. As I was walking down after putting the kids to bed my back end got higher then my top end and I twisted a little, and my front paws, slid, and the next thing I know I was sliding down the stairs butt first.

Pocket: I was at the bottom of the steps and Foley that klutz began to go bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, backwards down the stairs in what looked like the most fun game ever.

Foley: I remember what I was thinking. I was thinking AAHHHHHHH!

Pocket: We had got bows in our hair and Foley’s was bright pink. She landed at the bottom of the stairs curled up and she lifted her head and the first thing Mommy saw was the pink bow and she thought it was a cut in Foley’s head and she went AAHHHH!

Foley: Oh my god! Where was my dignity? I stood up, and my back right leg was sore and wasn’t working right, so I couldn’t move fast, and then everyone was rushing towards me, even the kids out of bed who heard the yelling, and I picked up by Mommy.

Pocket: I tried to nip her as she was being picked up. I’m not proud of it.

Foley: I got brought to the couch and got poked, prodded, pulled and petted when all I wanted was to curl up with Mommy. Everyone determined I was OK, which is great news when a three year old gives you the medical thumbs up: If she’s on a death panel we’re all screwed. The kids went back upstairs while Daddy held on to me downstairs, and I still fought with him because I wanted to say goodnight.

Pocket: I didn’t want Foley to be hurt. I was glad she wasn’t. But again, she got all the attention. Everybody loves Foley.

Foley: I fell asleep hard on Mommy’s lap, and slept most of the day Sunday. But I’ll be ready for Tanner Brigade football on Monday.

Pocket: Great, I’m two years old and my sister is Tom Delay.