The New Bed

9.27.2010

I recently upgraded my bed from a full to a queen.  It's a fabulous bed, but I think Guido may be liking it more than I do.

The very first night I had the new bed, Guido left his hiding spot under the bed and slept in the bed with Daisy and I.  He's slept in the bed with us ever since. (I realize I used the word "bed" a lot in that sentence, but I really couldn't think of another way to write it).

He is quite funny about it, though.  He refuses to sleep anywhere near Daisy.  Being the enthusiastic burrower that she is, she's always under the covers.  She's tiny enough that she sort of blends in; there is no tell-tale lump to see where she might be.  So Guido puts his nose to work.  He sniffs around in the air until he locates her scent, and promptly lays down on the other side of the bed!

Someday they'll be friends, Daisy and Guido.

What Dogs Are For

9.16.2010

It’s been a heckuva week at work.  Not a bad week, just one of those incredibly busy and emotionally exhausting weeks.  First, there was this.  I’ve been at the college all week with coworkers, assisting with the emotional fallout.  Throw in a couple of client crises, and 6 hours today spent sitting in the emergency room for purely red tape purposes, and I am fresh out of coping skills.

I have to admit that I wasn’t the nicest mom to the puppy dogs last night.  I wasn’t mean; I just had very little patience and didn’t give them the attention they wanted.  Tonight I got home 2 hours late from work.  I did my chores.  Took the dogs out for a walk and fed them.  And then I went into my bedroom to collapse on my bed and have my mini-breakdown, or what one might euphemistically call my attempt to “decompress.”

Before I had a chance to really wallow in my self-pity, both puppy dogs came racing through the apartment onto the bed.   I got a few kisses in the face before they raced off again.  They raced back into the bedroom, gave me a few rambunctious kisses, and raced off again.  Rinse and repeat about 6 times.

It’s really kind of hard to maintain a bad mood when the puppies are so excited and happy and energetically demanding that you join in the fun.

And that’s what dogs are for.  Well, one of the reasons, anyway.

Determining the Alpha

9.07.2010

I think Daisy and Guido are still negotiating who will be the alpha dog.  Guido is the more obnoxious one, but Daisy has a way of quietly worming her way in until she gets what she wants.

When it comes to toys, Guido rules the roost.  The bed, however, belongs completely to Daisy.

Guido continues to spend the night underneath my bed, and Daisy continues to spend the night in the bed, burrowed under the covers.

*She gets SO EXCITED when she has an opportunity to burrow under any sort of cover.  It’s quite comical.*

Last night, I discovered Guido curled up in Daisy’s doggie bed, looking quite cozy.  He also loves to burrow under covers (although not with the exuberance that Daisy does), and I’ve felt quite guilty that he has given up his cozy human bed to sleep on the floor.  So I thought it was nice that he was using Daisy’s bed.  I laid a throw over him so he could burrow.

Well, apparently Daisy’s exuberance for burrowing extends to any blanket object anywhere in the room.  She immediately jumped down from the human bed and kicked Guido out of the doggie bed, and took his place under the throw!  Guido didn’t even take the opportunity to claim the human bed while Daisy was out of it.  He went right back underneath the bed.

Poor Guido.

She's Playing!

9.06.2010

Okay, I am no expert on rescue dogs, but anyone who has ever adopted an older rescue dog will understand my joy and excitement about the fact that Daisy has started to play.

Daisy was home a couple of weeks before she and Guido started playing.  At first it would just be bursts of chasing each other that would last a few seconds, but gradually increased from there.

The first time they played, I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom, and didn’t even realize it.  But then I noticed that both dogs had raced by the bathroom door several times, and when I realized they were playing, I almost squealed with delight.  Hard to do with a mouthful of toothpaste.

The past couple of weeks, I’ve been trying to get Daisy to play with me.  She would just look at me like I’d lost my mind.  I started trying different ways to play with her, thinking that perhaps I just had not discovered “how” she plays with humans.  And then I started to think that perhaps she has never played with a human and didn’t know how.  (silly, right?).

About a week ago, she started to respond when I’d play with her feet, or touch her on the nose with my finger.  But barely.  And then, oh my goodness. The other night, Daisy and I were on the bed and she really started playing with me.  Full on feinting, play snapping, bouncing around playing!!!  And if that weren’t enough, Guido joined in!

Guido would be on the floor, ready to be chased.  He’d look at me, I’d tap Daisy on the hindquarters, and she’d take off after him.  They would run through the apartment and then back to the bedroom, Daisy would jump on the bed to play with me, and Guido would wait on the floor for his turn again.  This went on for at least ten minutes.  Guido tired out long before Daisy did.

And that girl can fly!  I wish I could have videotaped her flying off the bed after Guido.

I cannot put into words the joy in my heart to see her playing like that, not just with me but with Guido as well.  I think she may have decided to adopt Guido and I after all.