Puppy New Year!

Happy 2013 everybody!  I've been doing a lot of thinking about 2012 and what, if anything, I want to change for 2013.

In deep thought

I'm very grateful that I've recovered so well from my IVDD surgery.  That was scary, but it taught me that some scary things can be overcome even if there's a lot of hardship.  I'm very grateful for my home and my family.

However, I have been having trouble with one new family member.  I have alluded to her in the past, but since she is the focus of my 2013 goal, I will finally write about her.  A tiny human moved into my house quite a while ago.  

First, I was very protective of her.  She was so helpless (and noisy).

Checking on the little one

However, as time has passed, this tiny human has gotten bigger and moves around without help.  She seems to like me... a lot... a little too much.  I want to sleep under my blanket, but she pulls the covers off of me and pats me on the head... a little too hard sometimes.  One minute, I want to love and protect her, but the next minute she's bothering me or chasing me!

So, for 2013, I will try to be nice to this little, important pack member as much as I can.  I think I expressed my feelings best in this card that I gave to her for Christmas.

Christmas card to littlest pack memberInside, I wrote:

What a year!

Some days, I didn't know what to think.

Other days, I just needed a drink.

It helps when I have my morning jog,

To deal with the fact that I'm no longer top dog.

Most days, I love that little girl.

I'll try to treat her like a precious pearl.

I do have to say that there are some new fringe benefits.  This little person has been eating real food, and unlike the big people, she throws some food to the floor for me.  (I had some roasted pork on Christmas thanks to this sweetie!)

AnticipationHave a Puppy New Year everyone!

Adoption Day!

Sunday was exactly 3 years since my adoption day!  That got me thinking about my adoption day.  It was scary and exciting and unexpected and it turned out to be the happiest day of my life.  I wasn't so sure at the time, though.

I was living with my wonderful foster family and spending my days at Doggie Deli.  Doggie Deli is the best place on earth for puppies to spend their day.  There are great treats and toys everywhere, and other friendly puppies were coming in all day.  My foster family was very nice to me.  The only very minor problem was that there was so much excitement all the time.  I'm a calm pup by nature and it could be a little overwhelming at times.  I was very, very, very happy, though!

One day, two people came in who I had met once before.  They were very nice, but they didn't have a puppy with them.  This time, though, they bought a whole bunch of great stuff for puppies like food, treats, and toys.  I thought that they were going to make some puppy very happy. 

I was very surprised when they put a collar and leash on me and took me to their car!  This didn't really seem right since nobody else took me to their car before.  My bed was in their car, which was even weirder.  They put me in my bed and then started driving.  Yikes!  I think they made a mistake.

However, while one of the people was driving, the other kept talking to me softly and calmly and told me how happy I was going to be.  There was something soothing about the voice that made me believe that it was true.

Finally, we got to the house and went inside.  It was nice, but I was feeling pretty worried.

I was pretty worried at first...Would these people treat me nice like my foster family, or would they treat me mean like the people I met when I was born?  Would they remember to play with me, walk me, and most importantly, would they remember to feed me?

Guess what!?  They remembered all of those things and more.  When they saw how worried I was, the first thing they did was give me a cookie from Doggie Deli.  Once they did that, I knew that I was in a loving, happy home!

I knew I was loved (and would be fed)I was very happy the rest of the evening until nighttime.  At night, my people put me in my bed in the food room and then went to the sleeping room without me!  I was so sad to sleep by myself.  I'm supposed to sleep in the sleeping room with my pack!

I cried and cried.  I cried and cried and cried and cried so the people would know that they forgot me.  After many hours, they finally heard me and then moved my bed to the sleeping room. 

And that is where I have happily slept every night since!