Stampy vs. Exuberdog - the Show Down

Judith started calling Orion "Stampy" about 10 minutes after she got here (whereas someone else was using dog toothpaste within 10 minutes, though I learned my lesson and kept it hidden away this visit). Stampy is an excellent nickname for Orion, who has so far just gone by "Little O" (because Odin is "Big O"). You can hear him coming all the way down the hall with his big, stampy feet; he's gray like an elephant; and it's just a funny word. Stampy.
I've just gotten a chance to sit down and do the week in review, because we had such a whirlwind visit with Aunt Judith and Grandpa Ric. It was fun to see the puppies through the eyes of someone new, and here's some of their observations:
When Betel walks, his belly snakes back and forth. He swings way out, like a slinky from the side. Orion and Odin don't do that. It's really funny to get above him and watch him go. He's like a Sidewinder.
Both puppies sleep on their backs when it's hot. They'll let their mouths hang open, and they splay their back legs out. Front legs sometimes stretch out, but more often stay curled in a begging position. Odin NEVER did this when he was young.
They have very different personalities that show when new folks are around. Betel promptly bit Judith several times (she politely called it nipping, but he hadn't done it to me before. After he got a taste of Judith, he started nipping me too. What a darling.). Judith, with her advanced obedience knowledge, put him in his place several times. She played a "game" where she rubbed him until he quit thrashing. He's very dominant. Orion, however, would flop over and just stay flopped. He's very good.
So, Judith took about 1000 pictures. Some of them are hilarious, and there's no way I'll ever post them all, but she took some really, really good ones. We are both very fond of pictures where people are making stupid faces, or a dog's head is moving or is too close to the camera, so we would laugh and laugh at photos other people might think are "bad." (I believe Judith shares this sentiment, that our favorite childhood pictures are this series of pictures of Dad sleeping on the couch, the ceiling fan, the walls, etc. No one knows who took it or why.)
While Dad & Judith were here we: took a lot of trips to the barn; went to the Farmer's Market; ate a lot of salmon (but not me and Judith, we don't eat things with faces); took the puppies on their first hike ever; got good photos of them getting a bath outside the one day it was hot; took Orion to the vet after his eye got totally swollen from a deer fly or yellow fly bite to the eyelid; Orion wiped his butt on dad's pant leg at the vet, which I thought was hilarious and Dad did not; at the vet Orion weighed 58 pounds, but at home the scale was acting up so I don't know this week's actual measurements. Judith brought treats, and the puppies LOVED their new toy. Odin promptly ate all three of the bones Judith brought, so the next day at Mud Bay she got more bones, but he hogged them too. We went to Western Meats and got them some marrow bones to help with the teething, but it seems to make Orion's butt even stinkier than normal, and they are really big bones.
I hope I entered this, but last Monday I finally gave Orion his 8 way shot - his final shot from the puppy series.
Yesterday, Melissa and Harry came over, and Harry showed that he is about 100x smarter than any one of my dogs (or even all three combined). They raced around and played and had a blast, and then Harry saw the cats, so I put them inside, but mean Watanabe kept looking out his cat door, and Harry ran around and looked in the windows for the cats. I've never seen a dog be so smart.
That's the short summary of the fun week. We took a few walks, and Judith also made dog treats. It was a lot easier to walk the dogs when there was one person per dog. Odin loves Judith, and I think all the family liked having her and Dad around.