Please note - this a large file so graphics have been removed to slim things down. It is still a large file so it may take a bit to fully download.

8/29/99 - The Bug Hunter continues. Now it's flies. Or I should say fly. We had the great misfortune of having an ordinary house fly keeping us company late last night - in the bedroom. Small as flies go - but VERY pesty and persistent as flies go. It went undetected by PuffinRadar and PuffinSonar for quite a while.. but after we had gotten tucked into bed and Ginny was reading, thus having a nice quiet time, the fly decided he/she wanted to get cozy too. Quite drove Ginny nuts, and of course drove Puffin even nutser. That meant that Ginny was nuts not only from the fly but from the fly making Puffin nuts. She woofed, squealed, growled, snorted, and physically went through every maneuver and contortion that one in their wildest imaginations could conjur up a cockapoo could do...  be it on the bed or on the floor. Or in the air. She thought it most effective to try to relieve Ginny of this pesty visitor by makng valiant efforts to catch it in midflight, by regular leaps off the bed (all four feet up), all of them ending with the "thunk" of her reentry to solid turf and the snap of her jaws closing empty of fly. She chased, stalked, pounced... all in vain. This was one agile fly, let me tell you... it not only was evading Puffin attacks but Ginny attacks too. All of that evading made the fly rather nuts along with us. Endurance finally won out...  the fly started making mistakes and not being quite as digilent in dodging.... finally a well-placed whack with the magazine produced mashed fly. Puffin hasn't quite forgiven me yet for taking her entertainment away.... but she'll get over it.
8/22/99 - Have you ever lived with a four footed moving refridgerator magnet? We do. I think Puffin could be the poster dog for the statement about the cockapoo's job is to be a loving companion. Granted, Puffin lives in a household where people are home all day... and when we do have to go out she takes to her crate quite cooperatively (and quietly). But - at any given moment when life is normal and someone's at home... she has to be there. Not just in eyeshot....  hooked on. Attached. Touching. Plastered up against you. On top of you. The only exception is if you're playing with her - which is just fine of course. But in the down moments - and they are indeed just moments - Puffin sprouts velcro. Most of the time she's snuggled up against Ginny somehow...  either laying against her on the bed or curled up on her feet (or against them). Ginny's knees have been adopted as Puffin pillows. Feet too. If Ginny fails to meet the need for some reason then it's off to Mom. Usually it's limited to curled up against Mom's feet - but if Mom is on the lounge on the porch then Puffin can snuggle up there.
        When we have to cope with the person she's currently stuck to leaving the room.... then Puffin trots to the other person who is usually available. She has tried diligently to follow Ginny into the bathroom but that's been a nono...  if all else fails she'll curl up outside the door. Some days it gets to be quite exhausting if Ginny and Mom are each doing things and not sitting still - poor Puffin may not get a nap for a whole hour or so.....
        She had quite a day yesterday...   first her cockapoo cousins in California sent another care package - a new Mr. Carrot and TWO new rawhide bones...   the jaws haven't stopped since. She was a little miffed since this box also had a tin of homemade fudge in it for Ginny... and Puffin wanted it bad (just to remind everyone, chocolate is a big NONO for dogs - it can kill them). She's having a ball with her new goodies - but still trying for the fudge (fat chance).
(Back to Top)

8/15/99 - Oh my, Puffin had such a trying week this week. In follow up to being all spiffed up last week, it was time to keep going on a few more things of that nature...  Friday night it was time to clean her eyes and ears (on the normal schedule). She's gotten so that she's very good when Ginny does her eyes with nice cool water (Puffin prefers cool over warm) and soft cotton pads (no shreds to get in her eyes...) but the ears are a different story. Most times it takes both Mom and Ginny - Mom to hold her and Ginny to do the dirty work. But - Carol showed Ginny how to hold her so that Puffin was comfortable but still knew who was boss.... and Ginny's been able to usually get the job done singlehandedly. That doesn't say that Puffin likes it any better...   the first ear is usually accomplished without too much of a todo (we have ear washing stuff from the vet - plop a little slug of this stuff in each ear, let the flap down and massage the base of the ear... then use a cotton pad with a finger to gently wipe it out).... but oh boy, once that one is in the works and she realizes what's doing - catching her for the second one is just short of a steeplechase. By this time the baby gate is closed on Ginny's room so the steeplechase is limited to the short version... and smart as Puffergirl is she ALWAYS makes the fatal mistake of running to the far side of the bed between the bed and dresser - with no way out (she's not an under the bed critter). So - Ginny then has a captive audience (literally) for the second ear, along with one teed-off Cockapoo. Once we get it done the gate is opened and Puffin goes on the five mile an hour rampage around the interior circle of the house - her way of running off her frustrations. Off she went - and decided it was safe turf by Mom's feet in the living room. And - Ginny was off limits. If she got within four feet of her Puffin was off on the run again. She finally holed up under the dining room table....  only to then migrate to the back corner of the dining room. Mom finally took pity on her and picked her up to snuggle since even Ginny's peace offering and girdgirl treat of her peppermint lollypop was not at all welcomed...   once safe in Mom's arms Puffin took into the lolly but only if Mom was on the stick.... eventually Ginny could hold it, and by then all was forgiven.
        Until today - it was bath day. Talk about adding insult to injury.... but all went off without too much of a mess, Puffin seemed again to enjoy the warm water and massage once things were clear that she was in for it... and of course to her being dried off is just one big snuggle fest (don't ever try a hair dryer). Each time she gets all clean and fluffy (we're back to fluffy puppy/fluppy status) it's like someone puts a quarter in her slot and she's off - first tyring to dig to the opposite side of the earth through Ginny's bed, then the black streak takes off through the house - don't blink or you'll miss her as she goes by. It does have its advantages though - she usually runs herself dry (with a good fluff job to boot). Now then - since all was nice and clean it was time to trim up the private areas a littel bit... things were more than a bit shaggy down there and made it quite easy to bring undesired presents in from outside, most unexpectedly  - but oh how she can clamp that little tail down. No one messes with her duper - let me tell you. So -that made it a two person show again... talk about indignant....   Ginny's snipping things back there and Mom's HOLDING her to to it!!!   Ah well....   such is life. It appears that all is forgiven since she's now sound asleep on GInny's feet......
8/8/99 - Puffin's latest new technique is paws. Used to be that they landed where ever they did more or less by accident.... now she's gotten very adept in CPL (that's Cockapoo Paw Language). One front paw laid very gently on you means "Hi, I'm here and I'd like to snuggle if we can". One front paw batting you a bit more determinedly means "OK - out already, NOW!". Two from paws digging to China through your leg means someone's put a quarter in her slot and it's time to play or else. One or two paws up over her eyes is the coy peekaboo "how can you resist me?" approach... sometimes enhanced by one eye peeking out staring at you to see if she can figure out if she's making any progress. Either paw stuffed in an ear means it's time to scratch said area. Both paws going like sixty on you or anything means that she's getting ready to curl up and snuggle in (none of this turning around in circles stuff....). Then there's the doggy dexterity demonstrations. Let a toy get stuck behind or under something and you'd think that there isn't an ounce of dog in her as the cat takes over...   or if whatever is in front of her has the propensity to roll she's the ace soccer dribbler. Pretty good at aiming it where it needs to go too. If all else fails the paws are retired and the nose takes over... then her seal ancestry pops out. She can boot a ball with her nose better than most golfers can put.
       The toy box is now boxes... a second stacker is now in service. They are big stackers so she has no problem getting into the bottom one.. or climbing into the top one. So much so that when Ginny thought that she could store the extra supply of old socks in the back of the top one Miss Puffin very merrily hauled herself up high enough to swipe a few. Never mind that there were already a few being worked on... or that we have TWO toy boxes full anyway....
        And for those of you interested it has taken her almost a month but she finally got all the CheezWhiz looking stuff out of the tip of the pig hoof she got for her birthday.....
        Puffin had a chance to go visit Carol at Mulberry Farm again and get all spiffed up... Zoe needed her nails trimmed so Puffin and Ginny got to go along. Carol worked her magic again and Puffergirl has eyeballs again.... not to mention a few other body parts that were missing in action, and of course got a sixteen point pedicure too. Once we got back home she konked out and slept for four hours... this looking cute stuff sure is exhausting.

8/1/99 - This week we discovered fans, and balloons - not in that order nor together, but an enlightening week nevertheless. We have of course been in the heat and humiduty soup as has most of the rest of the country. Puffin is a lucky puppy in that she came to an airconditioned home... and to help the AC do its work we keep some aircirculator fans going in several spots throughout the house. Because of the design of the fans they are on the floor - Puffin discovered how much she likes air blowing through or on particular body parts. It's not enough for her to just plop down in the air path of one.... we have to strategically position ourself depending on our preference at the time. Some times it's desired that her belly is fanned, so she's flat spread eagled out on her back, all four legs up in the air (sort of - they tend to collpase into interesting angles around her). Other times she likes to have her mustache and ears blowing in the breeze. The more risque choice is that when we play we now have to be near the one in front of our room so that when she charges back with the ball she can go front-end down, back-end up in front of it with her butt being well ventilated. This isn't jut happenstance either - she's been known to position herself thusly when it's not playtime as well.
        Then there was the balloon. A nice little green one. At first she wasn't too interested until Ginny started playing volleyball with it - after we let the air squeak out of it once or twice and let it have a flight arund the room - then it was a different matter. She had a grand time chasing it down, then playing soccer with it - and oh boy do these things scoot with the littlest touch of a nose! After that went on for a bit she settled down with it between her front paws (well, sort of settled - it still had a maddening habit of squirting away), so she then mastered the technique of griping the knot in her veryfront teeth. Very gently - as though she knew it was a bit fragile. But then the ballon started getting a workout since in this process she discovered that it was sort of fun to tug the knot and let go - while holding the balloon with her front paws. Made a wonderful "THWINK" when she let go.. and given her propensity to get a charge out of noises needless to say each "THWINK" set us off on another romp around the living room with it held in her front teeth after she caught it again...  but alas all good things to come to an end especially when your play intensity is increasing with each "THWINK". Yup - it popped, right under her nose and never phased her in the least. Of course Ginny was supervising the whole game and ready to scarf up the pieces before they became an appetizer to supper.... but she did get quite a look on her face when it was there one second and gone in a blink.
(Back to Top)

7/25/99 - Puffin the Bughunter has discovered lightening bugs. At least she thinks she has - something that flashes in front of your nose and then disappears tends to confuse a cockapoo adolescent. One second it's there - then it's not; or was it?? This tended to drive her a bit batty for a few nights as she studied them outside Ginny's bedroom window. Then...  oh joy, we managed to catch one when we were out in the run and bring it in (you can always tell when she's had a successful hunt since she comes bounding in bouncing but with this superbly guilty look on her face). She managed to smuggle it into Ginny's room, and then left it for a bit to allow it to recover. That meant it went relatively unnoticed. Until it started to move (first mistake). Then of course, it started to glow (second mistake). Well. Or did it glow? Guess not. Oops - there it goes again, didn't it? You got the picture - on and on, except after about the fourth "did it or didn't it" she decided that each glow required a Puffin Announcement (and of course you realize that this was all transpiring about one in the morning). After each announcement it was time to get friendly and pounce on it...  well of course it didn't take long before the poor little bug didn't have a clue what was hitting it (and yes Ginny put it out of its misery much to Puffin's dismay). Now when she goes out after dark you can hear her teeth snapping in mid air....

7/18/99 - Now that Puffin is a grownup puppy I guess it's time to review her vocabulary. (Given that while we have loved our previous dogs dearly, we also have to admit that in the smarts department they didn't rank up there, Puffin never ceases to amaze us and quite singlepawedly supports the claims of cockapoo intelligence.) Ever since she was a puppy we've been working  on the basics of sit, stay and come - some progress but she decides when (ok, I know not too safe but I'm trying, honest). Sit does get a pretty good response especially when she knows that a good time or treat depends on it. Stay usually makes and impact especially if the right tone of voice is combined with it. Come is the same if it sounds like there's fun if she does. Now on to the more interesting ones.
        "Is it cookie time?" in the morning and evening after first and last trip out is the clue that it's biscuit time - with the expected excitement, and then we progress to sit before she gets it. "Go get (fill in the blank with a toy name)" will most times see her return with the appropriate toy. Given that her toy BASKET was replaced with a toy BOX last week after her birthday haul that's a significant accomplishment, along with each toy having a proper name. "Get your ball" usually means that she's dropped it too far away to be reached for Ginny or Mom to toss it again - so she gets it and brings it closer. "Go find (fill in the toy)" will send her on the hunt and have her come up with it when Ginny or Mom can't find it. "Want to go get the mail/paper?" twice a day has the anticipated ear-flapping leaps of excitement as its resonse... same with "Want to go for a walk/seeZoe?".
Of course "Do you have to go out" is discernable too - if she does you'll get woofs, pawed and or generalized exicted actions... if not forget it. She'll just look at you like you're some sort of dummy. However, tell her to go look for Zoe and she'll trot out in the run and sit in the far corner closest to Zoe's yard looking there.
        "Where's my puppy" sends her into the Puffinpuppy frenzy of knowing it's snuggle/rastle time with Ginny. "Be a good puppy" is the signal to quiet down and settle curled up at Ginny's feet usually with good results. "Go see Mom/Ginny" will send her to the right person. Believe it or not she also seems to knows rooms - when looking for her ball the other day and having trouble finding it Ginny told her to go to the kitchen - and she did, to find it under the table. "Want an ice bone?" will send her to the freezer door.
        The best and brightest though is "Where's the bunny/birdie or groundhog/squirrel?" that sets off the run with flying leap onto her bench in the front window on the porch, or her booster seat in the window of the back door, or on the end of Ginny's bed to look out the window and generally a round of all -  then a serenade of the most interesting range of sounds that one never knew can come out of a dog - regardless of whether there's anything to see or not. You'll get it in excitement if she spots something, or in frustration if she doesn't.

7/11/99 - Well, as might be expected the highlight of the week has been Puffin's first birthday. First we'd like to thank all of you who sent her notes and cards to help celebrate...  they were all adorable and very much appreciated.
        Thursday (THE day) began with her presents from Ginny and Mom...  she hauled in a Yapple, five-loop booda tugger, rope and plush monkey, sterilized 4 inch bone, and plush star jack, plus her very own icecube tray that makes them in the shape of bones. Naturally she doubled the fun by having a grand time unwrapping each and shredding the paper to itsybitsies. Then, just to turn the tables a little bit, the florist arrived since Puffin had sent Mom flowers to say thank you for her special place in life. When Ginny helped Puffin order them she told the florist what the deal was - could they please do something fun with it? Sure! So - Mom got a beautiful summer arrangement in a kid's sand pail, along with a shovel, rake and sifter - just perfect. A bucket and three pooper scoopers.
        The next event was a long distance phone call from her cockapoo - cousins - in- California-temporarily-in-Oregon and family singing Happy Birthday... then Vickey arrived to have supper with us and brought Puffin her first dried pig ear, and stuffed dried pig's foot (don't know what's in it but it looks like CheezeWhiz). The pig ear is byebye (by midnight Thursday) but Ginny is still saving the foot for another day. Then..... it was PARTY TIME!!
        Puffin had invited her favortie people (Puffin and we very much missed Toni, Aunt Ellen and Uncle Alan) and most were able to come: Billie, Ray and Lauren along with Zoe; Vickey (her godmother); Frenchy (her godfather) and his wife Helen; Sherry (who just dotes on Puffin); Auntie Hazel (likewise); Carol (Puffin's original human foster mom from Mulberry Farm) and good friend Jim; Bonnie (another favorite people, who snuk in a bag of beefy chews a few days earlier); and Uncle Richie (who wholly blessed the whole puppy idea from the beginning) along with Aunt Lee. Puffin's birthday cake was specially made, a two layer yellow cake with cherry filling and white buttercream frosting - decorated in red with Happy Birthday Puffin, doggy prints and a cute little plastic Snoopy. There was of course a Number One candle on it. After it was lit Uncle Richie and Aunt Lee, who both have great singing voices and love to do community theater, took over to serenade her. As they led the chorus of Happy Birthday, Puffin was in Ginny's arms with her head cupped in Uncle Richie's hands as he crooned to her.... and her eyes never left his face. Lauren had the honor of blowing out the candle - then the eats were on.
        Carol said that Puffin could have some ice cream, so Mom and Aunt Lee took over in the kitchen, putting a dollop on a plate for her (Happy Birthday plates, cups and napkins of course!), thinking that Puffin would lick it till gone.... wrong. One lick and kachunk - down the hatch the whole thing went. They decided that she should have a little more - kachunk again, with the chops being licked nonstop. Aunt Lee conned Mom into one more serving - this one got slurped a little more politely but didn't last much longer.
        There was an exception in the no-presents rule from guests for Lauren and her best buddy Mary who Puffin had invited but couldn't make it - so Puffin got to open a few more goodies. Lauren gave her a plush jack with a squeaker, and Mary sent her a mini flying saucer, plush with a squeaky, both in rainbow colors. Lauren also decided Ginny needed a little something, so she had one of the pics that Ginny had taken and given her of Zoe and Puffin giving each other a kiss framed in an adorable little pewter doghouse frame. Lauren's dad Ray had loaned Ginny their camcorder, and he also was gracious enough to be the videographer for the evening. We've got some great memories.
        As if Thursday wasn't enough celebrating for a little puppy - ok honorary puppy now - Wendy came on Friday and brought her a booda rope and plush giraffe.... the toy basket does indeed overfloweth. As of Saturday we were all still recuperating.... but what a way to get pooped out!
People say if she could only talk - little do they know how much she does.
7/4/99 - Oh what fun, these thunderstorms and fireworks!! Puffin delights in offering her opinion at sounds that she can't see the source of right off...  so it has been a very opinionated weekend. The northeast as well as much of the country is caught up in a pretty rotten heat and humidity wave, which has meant repeating rounds of thunderboomers...   and you all know that Puffin doesn't like Thunder playing in her backyard - tells him off quite soundly, repeatedly and prolonged with each roll (just wonderful at three in the morning). Add to that a three day holiday weekend that specializes in fireworks (her other favorite sound to tell off)... and well, she's raspy and we're ready to shove a sock in her mouth.
Then again - the 4th only comes once a year so I guess it's ok for a little cockapoo to have fun and celebrate too.
        Speaking of celebrating.... Puffin's cockapoo cousins (and family) in California were very naughty and broke the no-presents rule for her birthday coming up, and sent Puffin a California Cockapoo Birthday Party in a Box....  early since they will be away on her real day. And of course she/we were instructed to open it when it arrived this week. Well, Ginny got the brown post office paper off, then Puffin took over. She had no trouble ripping the gift wrap off the box (even though it entailed her standing all fours on top of it)... then Ginny had to help get th lid off. Oh my - what was inside!!!  FOUR presents all wrapped up so pretty, and packed in LOADS of tissue paper....  Puffinheaven!! She really didn't know what to tackle first...  the tissue paper finally won out. Then we started one by one on each surprise...  and of course she was quite able to get each open... and played with each before moving on the next one, so this whole event consumed a good sector of the afternoon. When we finally sat back a bit there was even more - a brithday card from the whole family, and then special hand made ones (click here to share these and others) each from Ryan, Marci and Monica.... Puffin's very first custom art pieces!  And in case you're wondering - Puffin's wait for her birthday was made easier by a pair of rawhide chewy shoes, a new Mr. Carrot, and Horatio the Hedgehog (soft and plushy, adorable - and he grunts).

(Back to Top)

Last updated 11/12/99                                                             © 1998-99, G.Thompson