Doggie Saga

People have been asking me how things are going with Twinkle, the pup. Well, we've had her for . . . what? About 3 1/2 months now I guess. Things are going . . . fairly well. She's a pistol! Really sweet and playful and cute. And a lot of work. Certainly more work than I had anticipated. I mean, I've had puppies before, but it's only recently occurred to me that the last time I had a puppy was before I had any kids! So this is a whole new dimension in a way.

So, let's see. She's 6 months old now. She's not the 3 pound pipsqueak she was when we got her anymore - now she's in the 9 pound range! Which makes me wonder, because we were told she'd be about 10 pounds, full grown, and she's still got about 6 more months to grow. Anyway, she's clearly not going to be a BIG dog.

I'm taking her in this Thursday to have her spayed. I'm hoping she will calm down some after that (but maybe that only rings true with male dogs?). Oh, and speaking of that, it led to an interesting but brief conversation with Joey a couple days ago, which went something like this:

Joey (horrified): Twinkle is having an operation this week? Why?!?

Me: Well, she's getting spayed. It's just a little operation to make her so she can't have puppies.

Joey: Why don't you want her to have puppies?

Me: Well, puppies are a lot of work. And we wouldn't be able to keep them, so then we'd have to find homes for them, and it's just better this way. Gypsy got spayed, and Saylor got spayed, and Goliath . . . well, he was a boy, so he got neutered.

Joey (contemplative): Why does a boy dog have to have an operation like that? Boys can't have babies anyway!

Me: Go ask your father, I'm sure he will be happy to explain it to you.

Anyhoo. So after Twink is spayed, she's getting signed up for puppy military school obedience training STAT. The girl is wild! Really, no more so than your average, frisky puppy, but man. The energy. The not following a single command. I think she's taking her cues from the kids.

She's a good dog. She'll be a better dog when she has some training under her belt . . . er, collar. Oh, and she yaps. When she wants attention. Which is extremely annoying. Mighta been a deal breaker, actually, had I known. I'm hoping to break her of that.

I don't mean to complain. She's a keeper. She just needs some refining is all.

As for the kids, you may recall that we were hoping that having a dog live in the house with us would cure Daisy of her dog phobia. Umm, it hasn't. Yet. (This I throw out there to anyone who has ever told me "Oh, she just needs to be exposed to dogs more!" Yeah.) She's gotten better . . . sort of. I mean, she'll be in the same room with the dog, but she refuses to get down on the floor with her - she must be up on a higher level where the dog can't reach her. (I've actually resorted to trying to bribe her: "Daisy, if you get down on the floor and play with Twinkle for 3 minutes, I will take you to the store and buy you a new dress, today." No dice.) And her phobia has spread to Annabelle, who initially was NOT afraid of the dog. But now? Now Annabelle screams her head off if the dog so much as looks at her and is uncrated.

Sigh.

Lilah, on the other hand, loves her some Twinkle. She loves to pick her up and haul her around. And the Twinkster lets her, which is good I guess. They're buddies.

Finn, thankfully, is not afraid of her. He gets annoyed and upset when she nips and jumps at him (which she does playfully), but he's pretty tolerant and seems to enjoy her quite a bit, too. And he's figured out how to open her crate (yayy, fine motor skills!) and let her out. Which makes her feel even friendlier with him, I think.

So there you have it. Dog days.