It’s a Dog’s Life

Life here at Tiney’s casa has been interesting lately, to say the least. Having a new puppy in the house is both pure joy and frequent aggravation.

For the past several years the only fuzzies we had were our kitties. Kitties, in case you don’t know, are basically self reliant. Feed them well, change their litter, give them some lovin’ and that’s about all there is to it.

And then there’s Strudel.

Just look at that fuzzy face. Could you stare into those woeful eyes and not fall in love?

And that sweet puppy tongue. Every little puppy–breath-infused lick makes me melt with love.

And when she’s sleeping? Nothing could be cuter and more peaceful looking.

It’s even cuter when her half-sister, Cannoli is here for a visit and they nap together. Here they are sleeping with Strudel’s “baby” stuffed dog.

Look at those faces!

Awwwwww! I’m in love!

Later that same day they took another nap on the baby, this time forming a choo choo. Can you tell who is who?

Cannoli is a few shades darker than my Strudely Doodley.

Now don’t these pictures make you want to go out and get yourself your own fuzzy puppy? I highly recommend it, although make sure you’ve got enough time for training and lots of patience.

I’ve got plenty of time. Patience? I’m not so good at.

Strudel is really good at going potty outside like a good little girl. But she’s also quite adept at going potty inside on the kitchen floor too. I have a neighbor who told me of a little known training trick. If your puppy goes potty on the floor, don’t yell at the puppy, yell at the poop or pee.

Yeah, you heard me. At any given time of the day you can find me leaning over a puddle, yelling, “Bad potty! Bad bad potty!” Then I have to do a little dance whilst holding paper towel in one hand, enzyme cleaner in the other, while Strudel tries to eat the cleaning supplies. Oh yeah, fun times! I won’t go into the fact that if it’s a #2 accident that I don’t see right away, it magically disappears. Into Strudel’s belly. She does not do this outside, so I can only assume that she does this to get rid of the evidence, knowing she’s just committed a house training misdemeanor. She’s just lucky that the local law enforcement (moi) loves her so much, and will even let her lick me after a certain amount of time has passed for her mouth to be deemed clean enough for kissing.

She is exhibiting some true signs of talent though. You can see here that any sign of unwanted intruders will be dealt with swiftly and with little mercy.

Especially if they have any paper in their pockets.

I think she’s also learning the “attack” command, but none of us have taught her that. Either she’s completely brilliant, or she’s a puppy savant, because hey, it’s usually one of us she’s biting into.

Thanks baby girl. I didn’t like those pants anyway. Or my black croc. Or my black slippers. Or my pink ones.

She is quick to learn though. Check this out. I made this video just for all of you.

I’ll do a lot of things for and because of this fuzz-butt, but picking up poop is not one of them. I did what I call “poop patrol” once, and that was enough. It is now the job of the little ones, and for some reason they find a certain amount of joy in doing this. This has to be a trait they’ve gotten from their father.

Why is it that I can ask Madison to pick up dog shit and that’s not a problem, but asking her to clean her room is like waging a war? Again, her father’s genes.

Pssst! If you love me, you might love my sister more. Go visit her at Jill's Believe it or Not, and tell her I sent you!