Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Puppyhood

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She's here. Last Thursday, I picked up the new puppy. Her registered name is Nuthatch's Abracadabra, but for now her call name is "Bella". Because of her Australian family tree, I was pushing for Bindi (plus I knew that name would go over well with her big cousin Boston), and to go along with her registered name, I thought Bunny would be cute. But I got no support from anybody on either name. No matter what her name, she is terribly cute!
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Maybe I have forgotten how much work puppies can be. I don't have a great memory, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Puck just wasn't as much work as the average puppy. I don't remember dragging him out from behind the TV, or having him try to chew me so much. I'm pretty sure that Bella thinks that her new call name is "BellaNO". She seems to be very smart and very determined, she's already full of character.
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I will admit that I am a little bit disappointed in Puck's reaction to the new puppy. Don't get me wrong, he is a perfect gentleman with her. But I had this romantic vision that he would take her under his wing, playing with her when she is playful and then falling asleep with her on his big bed. Or at least maybe he would be busy enough with her that he could end his obsession with the birds at the feeder. Instead he politely greets her, then runs off to stare at the birds through the window. (In the meantime, she bats at his head, and nips at his feet) At night, I tried putting her crate at the foot of my bed, next to his bed. But instead of each of them being comforted by each other's presence, Bella can cry for upwards of 2 hours, causing Puck to REFUSE to sleep in his bed, he'll pace the house until I order him to lie down and sleep, then he'll sleep on the cold hard floor before he'll go near that yelping cage. Finally we moved her out to the hallway so that we could all sleep a bit better. Subsequent nights were much better, but my visions of a pile of German Shorthaired Pointers at the foot of my bed doesn't is still a long way off. Here they are in the chicken yard before the chickens were there. Puck is chasing robins and barn swallows oblivious to Bella who is right behind him.
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I know that I'm in serious need of some updates about the state of our garden, our chickens and our children. I promise to tend to that soon.