And Now For Something On The Lighter Side

After several less than happy blog posts over the past couple of weeks, I thought we should start out the week with something light and cheery ... like Mr. Orangutan's adventures at the ranch.  A wonderful friend of the animals, Sue R. in Colorado, had sent Franz the Orangutan just before Christmas to help cheer up Shiloh, our boy who has hemangiosarcoma.

Well, I was embarrassed to tell Sue that Shiloh turned out to be ... um ... afraid of Mr. Orangutan.  We've never seen a dog actually afraid of a stuffed toy before, but here's how well the introduction went ... and this was after coaxing and cajoling Shiloh to stay on the same bed with Mr. Orangutan long enough for me to get some photos!  He kept trying to get away from the scary orange thing:

Then we tried Mr. Orangutan with wobbly Allie, who wasn't afraid of Mr. Orangutan but wasn't interested in playing with him.  So we put Mr. Orangutan away for a while, until last week, when Alayne brought him out for the Certified Toy Shredders.  In the photo at the top of the post that's blind Goldie starting to go to work on him.  You'll notice Mr. Caterpillar on top of the couch.  Despite the holes in his head, Mr. Caterpillar continues to survive, and ... I must say ... gets more respect than Mr. Orangutan.

Here's Goldie trying to decide if she wants to eat the orange fluff hanging off her mouth or just spit it out:

After removing the squeakers, Goldie was naturally no longer interested in Mr. Orangutan, so Belvie decided to take out some latent Dachshund aggression on the hapless primate:

And finally, the now dead Mr. Orangutan goes from slaughter to slumber, with Daisy using him as a pillow:

That was one morning in the life of Mr. Orangutan at the ranch.

Comments

[Shannon]

I love that picture of Daisy with mr. orangutan! Could she look any more pleased with herself?

[Mark]

Thanks for the laugh. You, and the dogs, made my day.

[Moon Rani]

These pix are wonderful. Hurrah for multi-purpose Mr. O!

[Karen]

thanks for all the pictures....it's true "a picture [of your animals] is worth a thousand words."

Your work is exceptional.
Thanks so much. You're on my list of places to send a donation.
W/ 7 cats, its hard for me to imagine so many. ON the other hand, I'm rather jealous of all that love you get every days...and get to give.

thanks again.
Karen

[Candace]

Mr. Orangutan looks quite comfy after such a long and trying day... Speaking of the wobbles- have the wheelchairs come in yet? If so, how are they working out for everybody?
I hope you, Alayne, and all the animals have a wonderful week at RDR!

[Boundforglory]

Daisy's last picture is icing on the orange cake! What a roar!!
Thank you for lighting up my day with this post.

[Claire]

My Sheltie Goldie is also afraid of stuffed toys...especially the squeeky ones. I always found this strange as she likes to chew rolled up socks. At least I know I am not the only owner with a dog afraid of toys. I am glad that someone finally appreciated Mr Orangutan. :)

[Heather]

I love the photo of Daisy using the 'scary toy' as a pillow! She's too cute.

[Andrew]

I apesolutely adore those pictures of the dogs monkeying around, it would appear as if Daisy has herself a new prime mate as well.

[Shirley & James, Portland, OR]

Steve--you are hilarious! You are right—we blog readers need something light and fluffy—like Mr. Orangutan!

[Kristen D.]

Poor Shiloh, he looks so miserable! :) Nice to see Mr. Caterpillar has survived another month at the ranch.

[Craig from Great Falls]

Now that was funny! Thanks you guys!..LOL

[Sonya Brooks]

Poor Mr. Orangetang. He sure got a work-out, but how cute, the different ways the dogs treated him. Dogs, cats too, all have their own personalities. Nice to have some fun stuff for a change. You probably think so too.