Puffin almost full grown at 8 1/2 months, and 8 1/2 pounds

August 2004 - Good grief, it can't be two years....  but I guess the date entries keep me honest. Puffin and I are doing well - we've stayed here at the house and spent a good amount of time cleaning things out, fixing things up and generally bringing it back up to snuff.... and, on August 29, 2002 Puffin became a Big Sister. We adopted Scooter into the family - and have had a grand two years learning how to be a pack of three. Puffin has adapted like a trouper - she was four years old (which meant four years of being an "only dog" 24/7) when Scooter arrived so it had to be a big adjustment for her, but we are all a happy inseparable threesome now.Needless to say I made very sure that when Scooter arrives Puffin still had lost and lots of loving and attention - and of course Scooter was spending a lot of "crate time" as a young pup so Puffin and I had our continued snuggle sessions and one-on-one time. Puffin tended to ignore Scooter for the most part when she first arrived until Scooter grew enough in size to not be "fragile" - and it was uncanny to see this happening... the day came when Puffin decided the "baby" was no longer a baby, and started in with no uncertain terms teaching Scooter the ropes and who was boss. There is no doubt that Puffin is in charge and alpha dog - but they play, snuggle and sleep together just like buddies unless Scooter tries to get a bit too pushy (although Scooter has learned her place very well.. not to say that the clown in her does not tease on a regular basis). I gave in and bought a bigger bed - we needed a queen size for all of us to pile in together every night (which we happily do!!) - somehow they always seem to get the middle of it, though.

In October of 2003 Puffin was diagnosed as being diabetic... the tell-tale signs of unquenchable thirst and peeing quarts at a time took us to the vet; since Dr. Relyea was on materinity leave with her new baby daughter, Dr. Cyr took great care of us. Just as some humans have something like this pop up in life so do dogs - Dr. Cyr explained that they see it randomly in dogs and cats now just as we see it happen in humans.Thankfully we caught Puffin's symptoms quickly enough that she has had no complications or lasting damage from the diabetes - three days of Puffin staying with Dr. Cyr and the good folks of Rhinebeck Animal Hospital quickly got us all going down the right road. We've made some adjustments - two scheduled feedings a day for them both rather than free feeding, using calorie controlled food (high protein, low carb) (thankfully everyone agreed that Scooter will do just fine on the same diet)  - and Puffin gets a shot of insulin with each of her meals. We have all geared in just fine, learned a lot, and been able to share hints and tips back with RAH to help some others with diabetic pets also.  Puffin is doing great  - she still wears me out with her endless energy. She turned 6 years old (no, I can't believe it) on July 8 and as long as we stay on track with her basic care there should be many, many more energetic years to come.

August 2002 - Well, now it's been an even longer time on an update - and unfortunately it has been a not so good time. We lost Mom a year ago this month (after managing bed care for her at home for a year or more) - so Puffin and I have been learning how to get on with life on our own. We're doing ok but of course it's been a tough time, and there are not words to describe what Puffin has meant in bringing me through this along with the deep love and care of family and friends. We're staying here at the house, and things are beginning to settle back into what ever "normal" is....  we are of course the best buddies to each other that can be. I'm not sure exactly what Puffin is, but she more than transcends "dog".....  
        Her new favorite activity is loving to be in the water stream, be it when we are watering the outside plants, or having fun at Zoe's pool next door, where there are a couple of SuperSoaker water guns - and Puffin just cannot get enough. She stands there with the water just running off her she is so sopping, loving every second of it....  and if you take a break she is pawing at the Soaker for more....  and yes, Jingle is STILL the most treasured possession.....

July 2001 - Oh yes, it has been a long time since we updated things here...  unfortunately life has been dealing us some wild turns. We are ok, but it has been quite a year. It began a year ago May with Mom starting with some back problems - that escalated to the point of being hospitalized, and let's just say that things have not been going too well there... Mom turned 77 this past May and some things are taking their toll - after five weeks in the hospital she came home in late Septemeber of last year, and was bedridden for the next five months or so.... we are working hard on getting her legs moving again but it is a tough thing to achieve. Needless to say, life has changed here somewhat, but we are all hanging in. We do have some aides coming in to help, but Ginny is the primary caregiver....  and Puffin the Number One Assistant.

        On top of all this coming down last summer, we were hit with a horrible severe storm cell just after midnight on August 10 - winds topped 125 miles per hour, and the damage was pretty severe in the pocket it hit. In addition to the physical damage, it set up fear factors in both humans and animals that are still very hard to overcome, so Puffin has hard times when it gets windy or stormy - and so does Ginny. We were very fortunate in that we remained safe and uninjured despite the damage to the house and property ( click here to see )- and at that we were fortunate compared to others.
With dealing with all of this as well as Ginny having to gear into pretty much taking over running the house, life has not had enough hours in the day most times - so we apologize for the long silence here.

        Puffin continues to be a wonderful delight - she turns 3 years old tomorrow, if you can believe it..... and what a personality has continued to develop as she has matured. Her fighting weight seems to have topped out at between 11 and 12 pounds....  smart as a whip, and as snuggly and lovey as ever. Mom being in a hospital bed in the living room for five months or so caused some changes to the house rules... mainly in that Puffin gained access to lots of furniture that she hitherto was not allowed on.... so that Mom could still be in touch with her. To Puffin, this was heaven on earth.... she now freely parks on Mom's bed in the bedroom which gives her a wonderful view out the front and front side windows... but the best of all is she now has wangled privvy to the sofa in the living room.... the ends of each butt up to the front windows. Joy of joy... full view! The back of the sofa is jsut perfect for her to lean against while up on her hind legs taking in all that is going on... and of course any noise now warrants being checked out. LIkewise, new words have been added to her vocabulary - "go see" results in a flying leap to one end or the other to check things out.

        The other major happening since is that Ginny finally was able to get the upstairs room cleaned out so that she can use it as a studio/sitting room/office - with her furniture from the apartment she could finally move out of now that there was space to use here at the house.... it all worked out great  and Puffin has adopted "the penthouse" as it was dubbed by Mom as her second home in home (bedroom is still downstairs but is now a bedroom again rather than an everythingroom)....  but first she had to learn how to go up and down stairs. Given that there had never been a need for her to do so she had never acquired that talent - but it didn't take long to gain. At first, she rode up and down on the chairlift like Ginny.... then when things were cleaned up enough that she couldn't get into trouble up here, we taught her how to do it on her own. Naturally it took a treat on each step for a while... which she thought was just fine.... in the beginning she had down but not up... then finally got half way up....  then finally made it all the way up.. then decided that she forgot how to go down.... ah yes, for a week we kept ending up with a stuck doggie. But - she one day got the hang of it, and now flies over every other step....   and learned the new game of taking the toys that are up here and sending them bouncing down, watching them go - then trying to get Ginny to go get them. Right. On the living side she now has her own blanket up here in addition to Big Pod, since we put a Medium Pod in our bedroom....    and, the wicker blanket chest that Ginny so nicely put under the back window up here is a perfect lookout - and what a view!
  

7/22/00 - Catching up time!! It is hard to think that our little puppy is now two years old... she turned on July 8. Contrary to last years bash, we just had a quiet day together. She of course got to open her own presents, and after shredding the tissue paper settled in to chew on her new bone (one of those hock things with the "stuff" on it - smoked) and a new hoof (smoked but no stuff). It was a gorgeous day out so she had plenty of "out" time for walks and investigating, and of course ball tossing and belly rubs on demand. While not as involved as last year she did still have a birthday cupcake with candles on it, got sang to, and got the doggy cookie off the cupcake (the cupcake was chocolate so she had the cookie). She seems to be in prime form - not a thing gets by her, runs like the wind and jumps like a pogo stick. Her "vocabulary" is quite developed if you can call it that... in addition to all the woofs, ruffs, barks and such she has a wide range of squeals, whines, moans, groans... you name it, that all put together sort of let he "sing" - be it in excitement, frustration, pleading, or sheer joy. Body language has also become quite handy too - pats with the front paws, taps with the nose, head butts and body slams. In short, you don't ignore her! She has determined that she has to converse with any other dog she hears barking within earshot - as well as most any other noise she chooses to.
        We have had some awful thunderstorms this year, and one of the earliest ones caught her off guard. Up until now she had barked at Thunder playing her her back yard. On this storm back in late May we were up to the heavy rain and hail, hitting the outside of the air conditioner - something she had not yet heard. Just as she was stalking the front of the AC, a horrific bolt of thunder hit, and that was the end of it - ran full bent for Ginny's arms, and there weathered the rest of the storm. She is a bit more skittery with them now, but not being done in. The one "good" thing about it in Puffin's eyes was that the storm brought down a huge limb off of a maple tree in the back yard - close to the house (too close, in Ginny's opinion - it stopped about a foot from her bedroom window). Thankfully the house and roof were not damaged. It was about a third of the crown out of a 40 year old maple, so it was not a tiny piece of wood. Due to all the storms we have had this spring and summer, the tree guys were terribly backed up, so it took a long time - till last week - to get it bucked up and cleaned up. Since it overall laid about ten feet from our back window (remember that Puffin and I bunk together) it was a constant, all night source of entertainment for Puffin since all the wildlife in Dutchess County had a free hotel on the grounds. They moved in every night, and much to her consternation, carried on midnight conversations with themselves. Needless to say, Puffin felt it her duty to editorialize on this, which resulted in either closing the window and it getting hot and stuffy, or Ginny editorializing on Puffin's efforts. Very thankfully on Ginny's part the chain saw gang arrived last week, and we once again get some sleep at night - both of us.
        Puffin's real birthday present came early from Ginny - a trolley run out the back kitchen door, and someone putting it up, so Puffer girl can put her harness on (ok, Ginny puts it on her) and go out the back door on the trolley and trot around the lower back yard, in addition to going out in her run all the time. Getting the harness on her is just shy of bagging an eel, but we are doing better. She gets out the and her head never comes up off the ground... sniffing, sniffing, snorting, sniffing.....  oh joy! The only problem was it went up a week before the tree came down, and the trolley came down with it. We had to do without for about a week till we could get things sort of working again... she could use it but not much room. I'm trying to convince her that it is good the limb is gone - she has her trolley space back. I'm not sure she believes me. Much more fun in the dark.
        We had a grand day with a reunion out at Mulberry Farm with some of her "cousins" - everyone was getting their eyes CERF checked to help out the health data base for cockapoos, and Puffin has had her CERF registration added to her NACR registration as of July 10, 2000. While this is not so important for dogs that are pets as it is for dogs that are bred, the more that get checked the better both for the kennel and the breed, so Puffin is doing her part. The exam was over in a few minutes- just a drop in each eye to dilate them for a little bit, then an exam (just "looking" around) by a vet ophthalmologist - nothing to it, and Puffin was happy as a lark in my arms the whole time.  Then the rest of the time was spent playing with everyone - two and four legged.
        The Red Socks would still be happy with her as shortstop - she loves cutting them off.. and she has gotten pretty good at shagging flies too - she has some nice soft squishy balls that she got for her birthday also - and they are perfect to have tossed and then catch them mid-air. Puffin has also developed a penchant for volleyball - toss a kid's playball and she will pop it right back to you off of her nose. If you want to keep it on ground level, that is fine - soccer is an acceptable alternative. She can still chew her way through the best of them, but I don't think that she is quite as bad as she was last year.
        And we are in love with the mailman. Honest. Mail lady - ok mail carrier, to be exact. Her name in Nancy, and Nancy just loves Puffin too. Given any chance she will ring the bell with the mail to get a snuggle and slurp.... or we go out on the leash and meet Nancy at the box. Has to be the only dog with a love affair with the mail carrier.... and as Nancy says, it sure is nice change of events.

5/8/00 - I apologize for the lengthy wait for new news - Puffin has been busy being a nice normal dog - or at least as normal as cockapoos get. They as a breed are wonderful teases - love to get you. We're also beginning to think that she should have been named Pogo - Puffin's jumping and leaping ability are quite remarkable. This too seem to be a part of all cockapoos. Package it with speed, agility and overall strength and endurance and you have a nonstop fun machine.
        It is becoming evident that Puffin is maturing overall too - she is much better behaved now for some of those necessary things in life like grooming, having your ears and eyes cleaned, and even the dreaded toenail clipping. Not to say that she likes it - but given the right circumstances will at least tolerate it. Leave no doubt though, there is a large does of velcro in her - in her non-moving moments she has to be attached to Ginny if at all possible.
        Which brings us to the next observation. I am Puffin's head-propper-upper. From the time she came home as a puppy she would always find something to prop her head up on even when sleeping - that is how she rode home, on Ginny's lap with her head cradled in Ginny's hand. She took her first nap at home in a cardboard box with her head propped up on the side. She began to get used to her bed with her head stuck up on the edge. Pod has a hole dug in him so that her head is up at the top to watch the world go by. And, when we get down to business and really tuck into bed with Ginny - her head must be supported by a leg, foot, shoulder, head (as in Ginny's) or - best of all, Ginny's pillow. Take it away from her and you get a dirty look.
        Spring has finally come to the Hudson Valley after a very wet and cold start - now it's down right hot, but that doesn't matter - now it's time to haul Ginny out to the run and play ball  - this dog could try out for the Red Sox for shortstop - she doesn't let a thing get through. For her the thrill is shagging the grounder before it's a fielding situation - you can see the grin on her face. Or - grab the flyball. She does pretty well with that too.
        We of course though don't play till the chores are done and the run is cleaned up. This year found a new addition to her run area - a Doggy Dooley - sort of a mini septic tank for dogs. Works very well - dump the stuff in along with a little digesting powder in the water tank and that's it - no more hauling the stinky shovelfuls. We do have a problem though - Puffin is still very protective of her deposits (see the story of the turdrolling beetle of last summer) - it was one thing to watch them be swept out of the fence last year, but oh no - now they get dumped into this pot never to be seen again. It is a bit difficult when the Dooley lid is open to convince her that she does not have to retrieve her deposits and that they have been donated to science - but usually a good game of ball after the chores are done is enough to distract her of her contributions to nature.
        She is back to being able to watch the world go by in front of the house now that the porch is open and she has her viewing bench back again - if that doesn't work the back door is open now too so we can get another view there - even if it is the same as looking out her back porch door that has the barrier up for her feet to hit so that she doesn't poke the screen out this year - and if these all fail there still is the view from Ginny's bed out both the back and side windows - and they're open now! Good smells to sniff when the breeze is in the right direction. Now that the lawn is being mowed again we get to go out on the long leash and have a good romp and roll - oh how good that first one was a few days ago!

02/28/00 - I am Puffin's Itch-Scratcher. I may have other roles in life, but that is a primary one, let me tell you. She has this routine down pat. Most often she applies it last thing at night and first thing in the morning. Now you do have to remember that yes, Puffin's bed is now Ginny's bed - or vice versa depending on where you stand in all this. So, when we get ready for bed and hop in, the usual practice is for her to snuggle up right against Ginny, who is sitting in bed, up against the pillows, We do not have a chance of getting a night's sleep until every part of  Puffin body has been scratched. Head, neck, under the collar, under the ears, behind the ears, in the ears, tops of ears, underside of ears, cheeks, nose, top of head, chin, chest, all four armpits, belly, back, tail, butt, legs, feet... and all the while Puffin is going through her squirms and wiggles of delight along with serenading the household with her grunts and moans of sheer ecstasy. Whilst one is dutifully scratching the head regions, she will usually help out by positioning her snoot where she feels the most appropriate application of your efforts should be placed. If you happen to deter from the good places on the rest of the body, you will notice that the grunts cease as well as the squirms, and you are being fixed with an unblinking stare. Once you navigate to the preferred place then the stare ceases as the eyes sort of glaze over and she retires back into ecstasy. Should you cease and desist too soon, one of several things will happen. Either you will find yourself sitting in the bed with two hind cockapoo legs in your lap and two front cockapoo legs standing on your chest, with a cockapoo nose one inch from your nose.... or she'll lie there seemingly regusted to it being over, until you start being aware of the foot being stuck into the ear and the grunts of frustration begin emanating with her seemingly fruitless efforts to scratch her own itch.... but of course not without enough effort that you are being bounced around by these cockapoo contortions. And if course you have one beady little eye keeping tabs on you to see if you're noticing. So, you go back to scratching. If you are lucky, after about 20 minutes or so you might have found all of the itches, and you both drift off to sleep.
        Only to have it begin all over again in the morning. Ginny and Puffin both seem to have to go out about 7 or so in the morning... so we get up, Puffin goes out and Ginny goes to the pot, then Puffins comes in, Puffin has her cookie while Ginny takes her pills, and then we go back to bed. Only this time, instead of being somewhere in the middle of the bed, Puffin is curled up in Ginny's armpit, having her ears and related parts scratched, since apparently in the six hours or so that we scratched all the itches, they are itching again. If one wishes to go back to sleep rather than having the bed being shaken by the cockapoo trying to scratch the itches, you scratch till you both fall asleep together again - or at least you hope that she goes to sleep before you do. Otherwise you get the foot stuck in the ear again. This works fine till it's time to really get up... and by this time Puffin has stolen Ginny's orthopedic pillow - it has a nice hollow in the middle, so it's like a baby Pod - and Ginny is somewhere below it or on the sidelines, but always within about six inches of Puffin's nose. The Morning Ritual is about to begin.... where by all the itches have to be found and scratched again. After a ten or fifteen minute itchscratching session, we get up and face the day. Until it's time to scratch the itches again.

01/22/00 - Oh we are so far overdue for an update - sorry everyone.  Puffin is doing just fine and still spending her time coming up with new tricks from that never ending imagination. The first thing that happened since the last issue was the arrival of BIG Pod. The first Pod we got for her was a small, and while she is dearly in love with it for many reasons, it has turned out to be not quite large enough for her eight and half pounds to be able to be on top of all at once (which prompted Ginny ot write to the company and tell them that their size estimates are off). So, Ginny's Christmas present to Puffin was gong to be a new Pod, one that she could stretch out on as well as curl up in. Being the early (or so) shopper that she is, Ginny ordered it in early November, and the day that it arrived decided that Puffin would have an early gift, first of all because the box was too big to hold any place until the BIG DAY, and second of all each time she watched PUffin trying to get all of her onto little Pod on the occasions that she did sleep on it, Ginny felt sorry for her. So, Big Pod was given to her that day. Considering that it is about 30 inches across, not fitting is no longer the problem, and she merrily beat her little hole into the middle of it and has spent many happy hours snoozing away. However, Pod also provides alternate services as regular readers might know - Pod plays fetch with her. She places Jingle or another equally suitable toy on it, and then shakes the tar out of Pod to send the toy flying. Worked fine with Little Pod, but not so well with Big Pod - it's much bigger and consequently heavier. That, however does not prevent her from attempting each time, and she has figured out to put the toy on the edge, and rat the devil out of that spot for equally acceptable results. Big Pod now resides in Ginny's room  under her desk, where Puffin can recline and keep an eagle on Ginny whether she is at the computer or on the bed, in addition to the happenings in the hall (not to miss an event, mind you). Little Pod, meantime, got relegated to the living room, where she still rats the daylights out of it and sends anything airborne, as well as tying herself up into a little knot to curl up on it next to mom.
        Christmas was of course a delightful time for her... Santa brought new toys, all wrapped in nice crunchy paper that she could shred to smithereens as she opened all her goodies herself. Some of the more bedraggled ones took a hike to toy heaven; but she is still well stocked for the next century. She must have done some growing up without us noticing, since she didn't quite  destroy everything in record time this year as compared to last - perhaps we were a bit wiser in helping Santa out too? One of her most prized acquirings was a REAL bone... a smoked pig femur to be precise, that looks just like a bone in the cartoons. She has worked her little jowls off on that one, and still has a lot to go on it. Of course there were some treats, piggy ears and her beloved candy cane.
            Her latest talent to be displayed is playing volleyball. Among her toys is a large children's vinyl play ball. Toss it to her airborne and she will pop it right back to you from her nose.... looking proud as punch. That's when she is not trying her darndest to sink her teeth into it... which will happen when pigs fly given the ratio of the ball to her mouth. But that doesn't stop her from chasing it all over the house including up and down the walls (via her nose) trying. She is handling the cold here in the Northeast like a champ... no wasted time outdoors and of course we keep close tabs on when things are over with and she comes right back in.. but let me tell you, when you have to go pee outside when it's 5 below you come in supercharged for a few laps around the house.

11/12/99 - Puffin has has an adventurous month. Number one on the list was getting to meet her Uncle Frank, and it seemed to be love at first sight. Uncle Frank has always loved dogs, and has had several; he's been very anxious to get to see and meet Puffin. Unfortunately there were some sad happenings that postponed it until this past month, but now it's happened and Puffin has another loyal admirer. Uncle Frank rarely tires of tossing the ball, so as far as Puffin is concerned he's an all-right guy.
        Puffin also got to meet another interesting something-or-other the other morning..  she had gone out for her first morning have-to, and when she was due to come in we got not only the customary one or two woofs that say "I'm done", but also a royal chorus. Upon following her gaze, a beautiful doe deer was checking her out from the upper yard, about 30 feet away. She certainly was not perturbed about Puffin serenading her, and Puffin for once realized that she was smaller that "it" so had no trouble running back in through the open door....  and made an absolute beeline for Ginny's bed knowing that she would be able to see the deer from the back window... unfortunately the blinds were closed. Later that day she did take on the squirrels though... four of them were patrolling the birdfeeders, and Puffin gets as upset with them at the feeders as Mom does.Of course to her they are bunnies... anything that moves on four legs and doesn't belong in her yard are bunnies.
        Late October was the time for Puffin to have her annual check up and booster shots at the vet...  all went very well, the vet just loved her up and pronounced her a champ....  although she has put a pound on since this time last year. That's ok but absolutely no more....  so Ginny is diligently policing Mom and all other visitors against sneaked goodies. The trip to the vet turned out to be quite a nifty time... Puffin got to ride in her car seat. You may remember this from the stories of it being "stored" by the back door, so that when the inside door is open Puffin has a first-row balcony seat to monitor the back yard. She found out though that it's pretty nifty when it's used for what it was designed for... it is held into a car seat with the seat belt and shoulder harness, and then she wears a regular dog harness that is secured to the shoulder belt with a special adapter (keeps her nice and secure and safely restrained). It is high enough so that Puffin sits at human height and can sit there and not miss a trick, which she didn't. Nor did everyone else on the road miss her...  any time the car was stopped in traffic you could tell that she quite commanded the scene.
        Then there are the leaves. We seem to have mutant maple trees....   they hate to drop their leaves, and are hanging on for dear life. Puffin's run happens to be adjacent to the hardest hanger-oner, so this means frequently sweeping it or she's buried in them. Puffin quite enjoys being out the when someone does doggy duty since it usually means another game of toss the ball...   but now she has a new one - Unrake The Leaves by Snatch and Go. As fast as you are sweeping them (thank goodness for Astroturf) she is sneaking up behind you, darts into the pile, snatches one and runs like the devil to the other end of the run (where you have already swept). You might not think that one little cockapoo could make much of a dent in a pile of leaves.... well, maybe not in the pile, but she sure can do a number in releafing where it's clear. Have to have a talk with those maple trees......

10/17/99 - Puffin Meets Pot Roast. Or something like that. Puffin hit quite the jackpot. You have to be brought up to speed in that the treat of each day for her is when Ginny is done eating supper, Puffin gets picked up and sits in her lap, a bit back from the table. Then either Ginny or Mom gives her the Nightly Two.... two tidbits (and she can count) from supper. Well... things sometimes aren't particularly Puffin Appropriate, or Ginny has already given her something when Mom, who sits on the opposite side of the table, still wants to get in on the act. For those times we have a bag of her kibbles on Mom's side of the table. On this particular night Ginny had not been able to eat all of the pot roast Mom had dished out, had finished and picked Puffin up, and given her the tidbits. Not to be outdone (Ginny tries to keep the tidbit bit to a minimum but Mom likes to give in....) Mom wanted to still give Puffer something, so she reached over the table with a piece of kibble. And on this particular night Ginny had not moved her plate off to the side.... so Puffin took full advantage. To heck with the offering from across the table... as soon as she had an advantage going of reaching across.... dunk when the head and Puffin had a pot roast feast, at the table and off the plate. Came up licking her chops, eyes glowing, proud as anything of herself. One less plate to wash.
        Among these nightly tidbit bits, she also decided that she like apples, having nibbled on one after Ginny had finished with it. Liked it quite well as a matter of fact. So well that the next time out on the porch, she decided that since the apple bag was on the floor she could just help herself to one, no problem. Well, she didn't quite make it, and the bag no longer resides on the floor. Nor can you eat an apple in this house without a cockapoo giving you the eagle eyed stare and singing the whole time you're working on it.

9/26/99 - Today was another Puffin Party - sort of, at least one with Ginny, Mom and Puffin, since today marked her first anniversary with us. As we pulled out the pictures of a year ago on that first day and night what memories they brought back - and we thought we still had it all in our minds! Puffin celebrated with being given a stuffed hoof - haven't got a clue what this one had in it since it was the color of Pepto Bismol.... but instead of better than a week to work all the stuff out of it like the one she got on her birthday, she had this one empty in about two hours... now the hoof is being tossed all over the house (she's gotten pretty good at tossing things).
        Not to have the weekend go unnoticed without another enlightening experience... she was driving Ginny rather batty last night wanting to go out as soon as she came back in all (late) night.... finally on the next to last trip Ginny began to put the pieces together... we had an owl visiting in the yard, and he was hooting up a storm. Puffin must have decided she quite liked being out there listening if not communicating with him....  Ginny heard it on the next to last trip but hadn't quite put the pieces together yet. On the last trip he was much closer - in the maple tree just beyond the fence. That was the last trip out - not only was it VERY late by now... but Puffin ain't all that big and we weren't going to take any chances on a visit any closer. She however seemed entranced with his call - not excited and woofing, just focused and listening. As disk fell tonight he started again far back towards to woods, and since the window was still open she was listening again.
        We sat having a good snuggle tonight rejoicing in what a year it's been. Puffin is the joy of life, and we've also greatly enjoyed sharing her growing up with everyone that has become so devoted to her. Puffin and I thank you for all of your interest and support - it's been overwhelming to be sure (the web site is a month shy of a year old and has logged over 15,500 hits). While this Escapade installment is the last of weekly ones, we will of course continue it on a less frequent basis along with updating all the other parts of the site on about a twice a month basis (excluding pics sent to the Gallery - they will go up as received). Please still stay tuned - 

9/19/99 - Puffin met Floyd. Or Floyd met Puffin... how ever you choose to place it. We were indeed in the path of then Tropical Storm Floyd... thankfully not whacked as much as many places around us, but it still did give Puffin quite a new experience. Floyd came calling late Wednesday afternoon and continued to call until the wee hours of Friday morning. Puffin's first encounter was when she went barreling toward the door to her run to go out... and stopped dead in her tracks looking at the rain that was pouring on her Astroturf...  with the most incredulous look on her face. Ginny stopped laughing long enough to realize that this was probably the hardest she'd seen it rain in all of her little life so far...  it did pull her up short to be sure, and not much accomplishes that. Puffin is lucky enough to have an wide over hang over part of her run, so she was not too much inconvenienced.. but the trips were quick and to the point, make no mistake about it. Once she got her sea legs.. or got teed off enough at him.. she decided to talk to him. Carried on quite a conversation...   to her the wind was Floyd talking to her so she was going to talk back, and talk back she did. About every twenty minutes or so a gust of wind would somehow catch her attention and she told him off but good. First few times were cute... but by 11pm Thursday night it was wearing out but good. This eight pounds of Cockapoo erupting in full voice barking when you least expect it got to be a bit thin. Thankfully Floyd was wearing out by then too... just as Ginny was trying to figure out how we were gong to go to bed and SLEEP... Floyd decided to move on and things got nicely quiet. Puffin at first still didn't understand - she ws running around as though she was trying to find out where he'd gone... it did get awfully quiet compared to what it had been for close to 24 hours. She finally decided that it was ok and came to bed... and we slept quietly on.
        On the more up side in PUffin's view - she got introduced to something better. One night last week we had lamb chops for dinner.. and Ginny held the bone for her to have a lick on. Didn't take more than a few seconds for the bone in Ginny's hand to be clean as a whistle....  then a few nights later she had a taste of a steak bone, again held tight by Ginny (not too well liked by Puffin but done for safety's sake)...   it's sort of like a pirrhana... one minute it goes to her with meat bits on it and the next it's stripped clean.... and she's licking her chops.

9/12/99 - Puffin, meet the hoptoad. Hoptoad, meet Puffin. It was quite an experience. Puffin is sometimes wont to go out later in the night since Ginny tends to be up late. As you know she is quite fascinated by bughunting, so having her sometimes be reluctant to come back in on a good bug night is not a surprise. Last night however she was in the middle of the run and nothing but nothing would persuade her to budge, and she was obviously pretty captivated by something. This of course meant that Ginny had to do some investigating and since it was beyond the reach of the light on the porch that meant fetching a flashlight...   what popped up (literally) in the spotlight but a cute little hoptoad about an inch long. Now - this was SOME BUG!! Puffin wasn't sure if she should have the time of her life with it or run for it...  so she decided for a combination of both, charging it nose to nose until she got a bit too close and the hoptoad hopped. Eventually she decided that she was bigger than it - so she got a bit more rambunctious. They played tag around the run for a few cycles, and by then Puffin was getting even more friendly while Ginny was getting more testy, since it was about 1am and time for bed. Before Puffin could get brave enough to carry off the idea of bringing it into the house Ginny brought Puffin (physically) much to Puffin's disgust...  but Ginny had no intentions of 1) trying to pry a soggy hoptoad out of Puffin's mouth, especially considering that it normally takes two people to pry anything out of her mouth since when she decides to clamp down, she clamps, or 2) chasing a terrified and soggy hoptoad around the livingroom (where Puffin always goes to show off her catch). Puffin spent the next half hour charging around our room looking for it, but I don't think she's gotten over being removed from such a catch yet.

Remember - after the end of this month Puffin's Place will be updated about twice a month rather than each week.

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9/5/99 - Paper. What wonderful fascination, play and sheer joy it holds for this cockapoo. Puffin has always from the day she came home very much (and that's an understatement) loved to shred tissue gift wrap...  and had absolutely no problem opening all of her own Christmas gifts last year at the ripe old age of five months. Now her love and talent has progressed to many other types. Remember when you were a kid and the box the present came in was better (or at least as good as) the present itself? Well....   Puffin will even give up Jingle Ball for paper. Crumple and roll it up into as tight a wad (logs work better) as you possibly can - and while you're doing this you have eight pounds of cockapoo bouncing repeatedly in front of you...  even though she's being trained to sit when she's excited... then the second you make the move to give it to her SnatchandGo is off and running. She rats the devil out of it, runs all over the house with it, and then of course begins the shredding process (we don't need to worry about shredding the bank statements). Actually - don't worry because we're particular about the paper she gets (and when she gets it - it's a treat) - nothing with ink or anything on it that she could get into trouble with...  and neither do we have to worry about other problems since she never eats it  - doesn't even really chew it much... just loves to shred it, into the smallest pieces possible. Then every single one is spit back out. Honest.
        It progressed from tissue wrap to regular gift wrap - but of course as I said we're careful about ink and stuff... then we moved on to brown paper, the kind grocery bags are made of. Ginny makes and sells Temari balls , so when she has had an order that has to be mailed the box gets wrapped in a brown bag to go to the post office.. and Puffin just LOVES to help Ginny wrap... 'cause then she gets the bottom that was cut out of the bag. This stuff is great - it's tough enough to really give a go to, even play tug of war.
        Now we're up to computer and writing paper...   which gets to be tough since if there's a lot of printing or writing it's off limits because of the ink. But - many times she makes out ok, and off she goes....  the other day she spent an hour just running around the house with this hunk of paper flapping out of her mouth - between that and her ears flapping she was quite a spectacle. We did have an understanding tonight though... she'd had a piece of brown paper this afternoon, and Ginny had cleaned it up (we play a game then too - if it's in Ginny's hand it's hers... which means Puffin tries to make it HERS) and chucked it in the scrapbasket in our room. Then tonight she did get lucky with some computer paper and again Ginny cleaned up the shredees. Not too much later the sound of shredding paper was heard... and Ginny thought she was losing it since she was sure there had only been one piece of paper given to Puffin and the rest went in the basket. But - we cleaned this one up too... only to walk out to the living room and have Puffin  tearing through the house with a piece of brown paper again. The benefit of the doubt was being given that she had hidden some from this afternoon and pulled it out... till we went back to work,  and Ginny happened to hear the thief helping herself to the scrap basket. We had a bit of a lesson over that one... with Puffin sitting there with this most popped-balloon expression. Which if course means that stern lectures don't last too long....

    (Just to begin to give fair warning, Puffin's first anniversary with us will be September 26. After that date I'll be updating the Escapades et al on a bit less frequent basis... but I promise for twice a month minimum. It has indeed been more than a memorable year... and little did I ever know that the few pages I posted to keep some friends up to date on her would turn into what it has. This week the site broke over fourteen thousand hits. I'm still sort of dazed by it all... but I do thank all of her faithful fans, and we will indeed keep things moving, just not quite as often.
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Last updated 8/04                                                © 1998-inclusive,  G.Thompson