Puppachino

Some things about the puppy, who is fast becoming a dog.   She’s twenty-eight pounds now.  I never thought I would like having a medium-sized dog, but her size has continued to grow on me, which is good since she’s continued to grow.

She likes doing things I’ve never had experience with in my prior, smaller breed dogs.   She loves to run and would likely run with me if I were doing much running these days.   She likes playing fetch, which turns out is an easy way for the dog to get exercise while you stay in the same area.

I can give her a treat, heck twenty treats even and it won’t affect her weight.   Small dogs are in danger of gaining weight with even minimal treats.   And speaking of treats, she likes getting Puppachinos with me at Starbucks.   It’s an espresso-sized cup filled with whipped cream.   I think she likes going in the car with me on the off chance I’ll be going to Starbucks.

And the fur/hair, which I didn’t want to get cut on account of I loved the puppy hair so much has turned out to be the best decision.   She’s still soft and fluffy, but ever so much more manageable.   She loves it, she’s always hot.  Last night she was laying on top of the air conditioning vent in the floor with the cold air blowing up on her face.  She lay there for the entire air cycle, not getting cold and moving away from the air a few minutes after it started blowing.

One thing I’m working on though is her being fearful of people, adults in particular.   It comes and goes, mostly when we’re anywhere other than home.   She isn’t afraid of children and sometimes even wants to go meet children when she sees them, even strangers.   Adults are another matter entirely.

My children love having a dog they can interact with and who loves playing with them.   The dog even wants to go up to their room with them and stay there for the night.   So far this hasn’t worked out for various reasons such as the dog being too interested in my daughter’s stuffed animals or wanting to leave the room later and whining at the door until the children let her out.

Not much negative to report—except that for some reason she decided to gnaw on the interior of the car door today.   I didn’t catch it for a minute or two until I realized there was a sound I didn’t recognize.   I may have to replace a section of the door’s interior.   I was very unthrilled at Matisse.   Very.

The Big Boy Update:  My son and I talk about different things on the way to school in the morning.   The other day he said to me, "I want to be famous.  I want to be a famous multitasker.  I want to hunt, climb and help the needy. I always want to help the needy.”

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter started swim lessons today.   She didn’t want to do it but we needed her to have some formal lessons before our sailing trip this summer.   She can swim, but she needs to have some proficiency at stroke swimming.   She was angry and upset because she wanted to play with her friend after school.   Once she got in the water though she didn’t want to stop.   She asked if we could have a lesson twice as long next week.