Confusions, Decisions, Explanations

WHAT?

HUH?

We've been totally confused.
Mixed up.
Not quite sure.

We'll admit.

That's nothing new.

We still have a lot to learn.

(We were denied a lot during our early existence.)

We quickly and appreciatively recognize

All the Knowledge that's been shared

and the Experiences that we've encountered

(and enjoyed)

During our less than one year with Dogs With Blogs.

We're blossoming and developing.

We're coming into Our Own.

We're making good Progress.

Turning into Real Dogs.
Terriers.
Wire Fox Terriers.

But some things still stupify us.
Lots of things, actually.

For instance
This whole thing with Mango Minster.
(You can read about it here.)
We "get" the general idea.
(I love to watch Dog Shows on TV.  Can sit in front of it for hours.)
We understand Categories.

But

Cracker Dogs?
Insane Terriers?

What are those?
What are we missing here?

The first thing that came to mind to Fergs was Food.

She loves it.

Food.

Any food.

(Does that make her a Cracker Dog?)

It's a very basic, a very primal thing with her.

I tried to convince her it must be Something Else.

Like

Maybe

Christmas Crackers

Snap.  Crackle.  Pop.
(They're fun to play with and rip apart)
(Ask Moma.)

We found some Christmas Crackers with Dogs.
They must be for dogs.
Cracker Dogs?
Maybe

But that still didn't make much sense.

My next thought was Nut Crackers
(as in pecans and walnuts and hazelnuts)

We know a few Nut Crackers
One visits us on our deck
but
That still didn't seem to describe Us
Two Special Wires.

So
We looked it up in the Dictionary.

The only thing we found
Was a description (in very poor taste) of Southern company.

Fergi said one image of me came to mind.

(Stunning.  Aren't I?)
Betcha didn't know I could look this fine.

But
Nope
No way
We couldn't go with that.

Huh-uh.

Finally
Our Girl mentioned Urban Dictionary.
An archive of Contemporary American Slang
 and
That got us a little further.

We actually found an entry for Cracker Dog.

It said something about
"Someone who goes crazy, barks stuff and gets very
ummmmmm
pissed off."

Well
I'll admit that I bark stuff sometimes.
I can get pretty loud.
(I did spend the entire Christmas Holiday barking at PJ's)
But we still don't think I qualify as a Cracker Dog.
Nor does She.

Fergi pointed out that there is a Herding Dog Category
and
She reminded me of her occasional assertiveness
When we are walking together

Pushing me along.

But I convinced her that no one would ever believe her.
Or me.
Or Moma.

We dropped that idea right away.

Sigh.

Then we got further confused.

We tried to figure it all out.

We chatted
Conferred
Had a tête-à-tête.

Do we enter as a family unit?

(We're getting stressed.  Can you tell?)

Or

Do we enter as Individuals?

(Individuals, we are.)

We both grew weary.

Problem solving can be hard.

Fergs withdrew to her blankie.

I withdrew to my bed.

(I practiced Mango meditations.)

But we soon realized
We weren't coming up with any Answers
Let alone Entries.

So

Finally

We just made our own Decisions
Picked some Pictures
and
Sent them to Mango
at the Estate
With an Explanation.

Fergi said:

Well
This has been quite the discussion around this house.
You see
We don't think either of us really truly qualify as Cracker Dogs
We're not really sure what they even are.
We are so naïve and inexperienced.
And gentle
And calm
And non-terrier-like.
And we're certainly not insane.
But we are terriers.
Yes.
We are.
And we really want to enter Mango Minster.

So
I, Fergi
Chose to take this quite literally.
(This is Fergs still talking, to Mango)

Here I am.
A Cracker Dog Insane Terrier.
(It's a stretch.  I know.)
A Girl (really, a Lady)
A Wire Hair Fox Terrier.

Doing my Best to show it.

Accept it, or not.
Believe it, or not.
That's my Entry.


And I?
Jake?

Well
Not to repeat Fergi's message
I basically said:

It's true.
We're honest to a fault.
We ARE naïve and inexperienced.
And we ARE very gentle (I even flunked out of the puppy mill)
(DO NOT TEASE ME ABOUT THAT!)
(My Girl will come to my defense - in a heartbeat!)

I am perfectly comfortable with my non-terrier-like self
and I'm certainly not insane.

OK.  I'll admit.
I tore up the Christmas Cracker
That was hiding in the branches of the Christmas tree
but I was JUST trying to understand the Concept
of Cracker Dog.

Sigh
(Again)

I'm getting rather tired of all the Discussion.
All the Indecision.

So
I, Jake, have decided to personally pick a photograph
that represents my Concern
About just which picture Moma finally chooses to send in.

Here I am.
In my Simplicity
Unpretentiousness
Ordinariness
Plain Ol' Me.

Quite bored with the Indecision.
(And tired of Moma's shilly-shallying.)

So there.
That's my Mango Minster Entry Photograph.

But
It doesn't end there.

Just as we thought we had it figured out
and had our Entries in
We see on someone's Blog
Mention of a Rule
Against entering more than one Pack Member in the same Category.

Just goes to show.
We've got a lot to learn.

And that's Good.
We love Learning.

(See how easygoing we are?)
Not much ruffles our Feathers
or fluffs our Furs.
We are simply
Plain Ol' Wire Fox Terriers
not insane
not cracker dogs
Just Us.

Period.


Pee esS
Just in case we don't get back for a while
(as if that ever happens)
Here are some updates:


The cars are all fixed.
Moma's purse is thinner.
We're eating saltines.
It is snowing.
Winston made it home safely.
Our Girl started a Blog
(We'd love it if you visited)
Here


Muwah!