She's usually the perfect pet during the nighttime.She has matured enough now to only need to go outside once each night and then, it's a quick squat to pee, a meandering tour around her yards' boundary and then, back to the door rapidly as if something is chasing her.It's a good thing I'm there to open it on her approach or who knows what horrid end she may come to.
We three adult, humans are learning, slowly, but learning.Tooth and claw is a good teacher, much as life has always been for us.Yet, last evening I had to take Gail over to an Urgent Care Center in Independence to stitch up the gash resulting froma playful encounter with Chewy's still razor- sharp puppy teeth while Gail chased her up the stairs trying to retrieve a shoe that has become Chewy's favorite item to steal and run with.I took a look at it before we decided it needed professional medical treatment and estimated three or four stitches would be needed to close it up again.I may be wrong; but I doubt it.It's a caption on one T-shirt Kellie gave me for Christmas.It fits me to a "T" pun intended.Three stitches is what it took, plus a Tetnus shot, a prescription for an antibiotic and a request for a recheck today out of caution related to the fact that the gash came from a dog's tooth.
Chewy has experienced two sessions of crate confinement today, one while Maureen took down the Christmas tree and decorations and stored them again till the next time and once more while I went over the kitchen floor with a damp mop to remove most of the muddy paw prints accumulated since yesterday.It's impossible to accomplish any chore that requires a fast moving object at floor level if Chewy is present.It's all a wonderful game to her.We purchased one of those as seen on TV magic rugs that claims to capture all moisture and mud or grime instantly.It has the potential to work that way if it could be place outside in the varying precipitation, which would afford the most contact length as she waits to be let back inside each time.As it is, she hates to have her feet wiped or be toweled off after being out in the rain.She has had no contact with snow yet this year, so we have something to look forward to soon.I wonder what new set of problems snow will generate for the household?
We are in the midst of rearranging living-room furniture.I wish you could have seen Chewy's reaction as she got her first glimpse of all the changes that had taken place so far.You could see the bewilderment on her face.It seemed to ask, "What is going on here?"Only a blind person could have been more confused in that situation.My imagination is working overtime conjuring up various scenarios as a result.What a joy it would have been to have witnessed her dashing down the stairs with some contraband she had swiped, leaping up into the air to land on a sofa that is no longer there and imagining her crashing into the wall that is behind where the sofa had been before.Is that wrong of me?Oh Well!So be it.She needs to suffer unexpected consequences due to her behavior now and then.How is she going to learn otherwise? We haven't been able to teach her anything so far.It's true, you know.An Old Dog has no chance of teaching a hard headed pup any new tricks.
Honestly, we are shocked at how fast and how large Chewy has grown in six weeks or so.She seems twice as long and twice as tall as she was when she first arrived here.
I've got to put that new video camera to work, capturing her herding behavior, her heel nipping techniques and how she goes about teaching stupid human tricks to stupid humans.
Chewy's not all bad.There are some beautiful aspects of her character and personality and of her physical appearance.Her profile is perfect for her breed.Long, square muzzle, closely set, beady little eyes ... Ha-Ha, I am joking of course.Her ears hang perfectly, her coat is thick and silky to the touch but one must be careful how and when they do the touching.She is quick to admonish the uninvited digit in forbidden areas.It's difficult to learn exactly where all the forbidden areas of her body are.I believe they keep changing as she ages. It less risky to only touch her when absolutely necessary.
