We have a puppy! She’s actually about 7 months old and 56 pounds now, but I’ve been hesitant to talk about her much. Don’t want to worry the neighbors.
Sammy came to us last November as a fluffy ball of puppy love, and now she’s a lanky black lab teenager. We love her.
She’s such a smart dog. She knows that her role is Puppy, and her No. 1 duty is to chew everything. She lives up to the task beautifully. Shoes, kitchen chairs, her leash. Three dog beds. For the first months I wouldn’t let her sleep in Jacob’s room, because I worried that she would accidentally gnaw his arm bones while he slept.
Sammy has eaten three food bowls. Not three bowls of food, but three food BOWLS. We do our best to get the bowls (and eventually the pieces) away from her, but, yeah.
Stockings are a favorite, preferably brightly-colored, striped footy socks. While I haven’t actually watched her eat them (I would have stopped her if she did it in front of me), I imagine she must lap them down without a glance up to see whether or not she should. How else would she end up swallowing so many whole? She can’t spend much time chewing on them, as evidenced by whichever way they happen to resurface. I can tell you this much: it’s more effective than a traditional colon cleanse, but I’m not trying it.
We took Sammy to beginner puppy training classes. This was a very fun and helpful experience that I would recommend. She learned to sit, heel, wait to walk through a doorway, and how to say no to insistent boy puppies. The class graduation photos show three very obedient dogs, and also Sammy.
Having a puppy is hard work. It takes time and patience and training. Our three-legged, former assassin cat is very helpful in training Sammy to stay close to the house. Hippie, which truly was her name even before she lost her leg, likes to sit on the porch and tease Sammy. Sammy tries to get close, and Hippie scratches Sammy’s nose. It’s a dysfunctional relationship, but Sammy is drawn to Hippie like Bella to Edward. It keeps her close to the porch.
Our other dog (the one who likes to visit the neighbors) was six months old and 70 pounds when she became part of the family. This was nice, because she didn’t need to be housebroken, didn’t cry at night, and didn’t need to be housebroken. (Oh, did I already mention that one?)
We chose a young puppy this time, because our son really, really wanted a cute, tiny puppy. Unfortunately, now that Sammy’s newness is wearing off, he is already asking if we can get another puppy. Sigh. At least he’s not asking for a baby brother.
The kids do love her, though. Jacob enjoys putting something delicious smelling in his pocket, then getting her to chase him around the yard. Megan is the best to work with her on puppy training exercises. And Cassidy talks to Sammy as if she were the sweetest little thing ever.
Our kids have grown up around dogs. When Jenna was a baby, my parents’ golden retriever helped her learn to walk. Jacob knows to ask dog owners for permission to pet their dogs before approaching them, though he’s so confident that they are going to love him that he frequently forgets to wait for an answer.
I do remember one time when Jacob was about 4 when he showed a little canine wariness. He proudly told me that he knew what dogs ate: “they eat meat.”
Then he looked a little worried, and said, “I’m meat.”
