Ah, it is SO hard to realize that
Scooter turned six months old this past Saturday (Dec 14). We are
definitely in that transition between the "terrible twos" of puppyhood
and the "teens" of puppyhood -
which at times can be a lethal combination. It can however also be
wondrous
and at times (only times, mind you) I almost wish that I could freeze
time
where she is right now - that justright mix of puppy and mature. We've
had
some interesting and exciting times since last writing, not the least
of
which was a week-long visit to us of a dear friend of mine from Atlanta
during Thanksgiving week. Aunt Susie flew into Stewart International
the Saturday before Thanksgiving and while her flight was on time, we
were of course there a little early to be sure to greet her, and oh the
memories as I sat there looking at the baggage office remembering what
it was like the last time I
was waiting there for a little bundle of fluff to land.
Aunt Susie has been Scooter ( and
Puffin's) adopted Aunt since arrival (Susan's 87-year old mom has
applied for and received the job of Godmother to Scooter as well and
keeps a Scooter Scrapbook along with her fellow bunkies at their senior
living center in
Atlanta) so this meeting and visit was much anticipated. Sue had
already
met and spoiled Puffin last spring. Needless to say it was love at
first
sight - at least on Sue's part. Scooter is still very much in the "I'm
not
leaving Ginny's side" mode - at least for a while (actually just long
enough
to get through supper and then Aunt Susie doling out tidbits left and
right.
This should give you an idea of what the week evolved into being - to
cut
to the chase three months of training went down the tubes in about
three
days ( and we are still working on regaining our manners) - but oh what
fun
everyone had spoiling and getting spoiled.
We did have a little problem
though - seems that Scooter had a short memory in terms of who is ok to
be in the house. Each morning when Sue got up and came out to the
living room from her bedroom it was like Scooter had totally forgotten
during the night that she was there... and we had a 20 to 30 minute
"get to know you session" each day which consisted of Scooter sounding
off at the top her lungs until she either wore out or decided that Sue
was ok again. This also tended to occur whenever Sue went to the
bathroom upstairs, too. And occasionally if she just moved the wrong
leg or arm while sitting in the chair in the living room. Until Monday
night when we made popcorn to eat while watching Erin Brockovich....
and I think the dogs ate more than Susan did but that did it... from
there on Scooter thought that Aunt Susie was the neatest thing since
well..... and even though Scooter still forgot each morning that Aunt
Susie went to bed here at the house the night before the rest of the
time Aunt Susie was the object of attention. It would not take much for
Scooter to be up in the chair with Susan and be all over her - and I do
mean all over her with smooches and kisses. And then - oh joy -
Aunt Susie would get down on the floor and Scooter could ambush her -
there was no finer game all week. AS I said we are still working on
regaining our manners and training but... oh what fun we all had.
All good things come to an end
though and the week did all too fast - which then also meant that it
was time for Scooter to pack her overnight bag and take a trip to our
vet to be spayed. We packed her up with a cozy fleece shirt that I wore
all the day before as well as a favorite squishy toy and made our 8am
preop time.... she was all done and waking up by 11am and doing fine.
While technically she could have come home the next day we had to let
her stay at "snow camp" for an extra
night since we had our first good snowfall that day - of about a foot
so
things had to stay put till it stopped and we got plowed out. When the
vet
tech brought her out to me she just squirmed and snuggled right in to
my
arms, and snuggled in on the ride home. The surgery impact was minimal
-
supposed to stay quiet for five days (hah...) - the only glitch was
cystitis and a bladder bug that we ended up getting bubble gum flavored
Amoxicillin for. No problem there either - she loves it and just slurps
it right out of the dropper for her dose twice a day. It has helped
considerably and gotten things back to normal from the "needing to
squat" every forty minutes, day and night (ALL night). We're all
getting nice cozy sleep again now thank you. It's two weeks since her
operation and all is fine, she's back bouncing around like nothing
happened. It's great now too - her internal stitched were
the dissolving kind and the skin was "stitched" with "super glue" so
there
was nothing for her to lick or chew - or to itch, so we didn't
have
to play cone head.
The last big development is the
end of puppyteeth. Since her permanent canines were coming in and the
puppy ones were still stuck in there pretty good the vet took the
"puppyfangs" out when she was under to be spayed since that could only
become a problem later on. Other than that though I think she has spit
just about all the other ones out while playing at night - we have a
bag of sixteen of them. (note from Scooter -
wanna see my teeth???)
Most of the time they made their appearance
on the living room floor in matched pairs. Her molars are well in in
back
and her front incisors.... it's the ones in the middle that are still
coming so things are a bit interesting when it comes to carrying tennis
balls around, or shaking the daylights out of anything - the
holder-onners just aren't quite
there yet and things tend to go in directions that she isn't planning
on
(few dings in the living room walls to prove it too). Hasn't
slowed down her chomping ability however.... big girl kibble and
biscuits no longer pose a problem and she's mowing them down right
along side Puffin, usually at double time thinking that she can snarf
something away from Puffin (fat chance) - she sounds a bit like a stump
grinder when she's really going at it.
Scooter now weighs about nine
pounds and stands just about shoulder height to Puffin - which means
that the "free ride" from Puffin is over. Now that Scooter is much
closer in size they are decidedly getting into it in finding their own
ways with each other. Puffin is being much more assertive in telling
Scooter to get out of her face -
and in protecting her property. Scooter was in the habit of just taking
from
Puffin nigh on to anything she wanted - no more. Puffin lets her know
in
no uncertain terms to keep her paws off.... and is standing her
ground
with it. Scooter seems to finally be getting the message at least some
of
the time and all it can take is a low growl from Puffin without Puffin
missing
a beat for Scooter to decide that perhaps that was not such a good idea
after
all. I do still very much referee when there are bones, chewies or
treats
involved but overall they are making progress in defining the turf
areas
with Puffin making it clear that she is top dog. Scooter is doing much
better
in getting the message and actually sometimes remembering it. That
doesn't
say she's happy about it... the sound effects and vocals can be
hysterical, and she usually comes running to me for "protection". If
it's the rare time that Scooter DID have something first and Puffin
swiped it I will usually try to rectify it- but, it is rare that there
are not at least two of everything available and I'd prefer that they
settle things themselves. Course when
you have two dogs both functioning on the theory that "what's mine is
mine
and what's yours in mine" life can get interesting. Many times though
now,
at least after a little bit of memory refreshing Scooter will back off
and
chose another toy while Puffin continues to play with her favorites,
though
it does make it interesting to be the one human being shared between
two
ongoing doggie games. Come night time though we all become a pack of
three
and snuggle into/onto my bed. Usually each of them have to be in
contact
with some part of me - and there are those wondrous nights when they
actually
are in contact with each other (though I suspect they don't realize it)
-
snoozing and snuggling along till morning.
Tangled up in all this "pecking
order" stuff is that Scooter is much in the "gotta be with you" phase.
She is beginning to let go of the scaredy cat mode that she was in for
a while though it
is still evident, but she is getting a little braver again - barking
herself hoarse at something or someone new.... approaching it on full
body stretch and getting within a brave two feet of it to sniff it
out.... then starting all over again. In the end she usually runs and
hides behind me, and then takes a chance again. When we are not
investigating it's just the need to be touching.... if neither one of
us are in motion she's plastered against me somewhere. If she is in
motion she lands on me on a regular basis (usually at full speed ahead)
- or decides the best place to chew a chewie is with Ginny laying on
the floor on her belly and Scooter laying on top of Ginny. Being
out of sight of her is a no-no, even when it's time for me to take a
shower.. ..Scooter comes right upstairs with me and settles into
the bathroom, all is fine until I close the shower stall door and she
thinks she's been abandoned until I remind her I'm there.... she waits
till I get out and then the favorite activity is to help Ginny dry off
- within reaching distance which means licking feet and legs (and no
Ginny is not too receptive to this). Our most courageous conquest
lately has been the breadmaker... with the holidays here we've been
chugging out a few loaves for gifts -
but oh boy we are not sure about this big white monster on the floor
that
seems to make noises all unto its own whenever it wants too. She's been
telling it off on a regular basis during each baking session.
The last challenge of this
installment was managing the Christmas tree. Somehow I had the feeling
that the regular tree on the floor was going to be asking for trouble -
considering that the house becomes an indoor Indy500 on a regular basis
when they get going on the tagteam races.... so we opted to buy in for
a table top prelit tree. Scooter dutifully "helped" decorate it by
attempting to unwrap all the heirloom ornaments (notice the key word
attempt) - when that didn't work she then tried
to help herself from the box (which didn't work either). I finally came
to
the conclusion that I needed eyeballs up, down left and right - but
finally
managed to get what should be on the tree on the tree and not in a
cockapoo's
mouth. Then came the fun part - draping the bead garlands which Scooter
thought
were brought out just to play tug of war with. Finally managed to
get
those on the tree too - which is safely ensconced three feet up off
floor
level. The big question and test now is - can we be good and leave the
presents
alone until after Santa comes with our stockings?
in the meantime
here are
some more growingup pictures....
and click here to continue on to
Christmas
morning and Scooter's first snow storm....