Peaceful kingdom (a work in progress)

Such a nice polite pup under the Christmas tree, right? Appearances can be deceiving - this is Hud, our new herding dog pup, arriving a week ago. We've had some heartbreak in our lives this last month, so the addition of two kittens and a pup have been very pleasant distractions.

We named the kittens Brad and Matt, and right now they are house cats, as we begin the process of teaching our outside livestock protection dogs not to eat kitties. Here are the kittens enjoying a beef bone for Christmas.

Although our older dogs (Rena the guardian and Abe the herding dog) are adjusting well to the kittens, Hud hates sharing, and gets especially annoyed when Matt tries to steal his chew toys.

Hud threatens to bite Matt while they lounge on the couch with husband Jim.

Matt reaches out from the protection of Jim's arm to slap Hud back into proper behavior.

The two brats compete for the spot next to me on the couch. Matt will not leave Hud alone, following him around, insisting that they are going to get along.

Since he gets in trouble for biting, Hud tries posturing to impress the kittens.

Posturing continues. Brad is the gray kitten, and he does not like Hud.

Brad is apparently a fairly smart kitten, since he quickly developed an allegiance with the biggest dog in the house. To heck with that pesky Hud!