Though you are my mommy and I love the squeaky toys you bring me (for they are delicious and have stuff inside which I delight in strewing about the house once I have slain the evil squeaker)...
I do not appreciate when you try to "play" with my prey.
It is MY kill.
MINE.
Careful, mommy...Careful.
*sigh*
Never mind. I forgot you buy the kibble.
You can share.
Today was Dora's first full day home, and man, she was BUSY!! (Don't believe the innocent face!)
I'm a little cranky today - I didn't get to bed until late, and I have discovered the hard way that our girl Dora is a bed hog. We spent a few minutes negotiating, but I am so far out of practice that I forgot to specify WHEN these rules about sharing applied, and as soon as I was asleep, all bets were off. I woke up roastingly warm, perched precariously on the edge of my bed, and with a postage stamp sized piece of the sheet covering me. I look over my shoulder, and Dorable is streeeeetched out to her maximum limit, sideways, across the bed. I have become spoiled, with no pups on the bed! I have the feeling even this much of a reprieve is only temporary - Homer cannot get on the bed now because of his hips, but I have the feeling that soon it will be monkey see, monkey do.
Ahhh... and did I mentioned that I got up at DAWN this morning, when Homer went out into the yard and proceeded to bay like a lunatic for almost ten minutes? I will admit to hiding under the pillow hoping he would stop, but no such luck, so I figured I'd better get up before my neighbors lynch the poor pup.
Seriously, Homeskillet, what where you thinking?
Who knows - but I know what he was thinking later that morning - he was thinking SAVE ME! Dora got a bee in her bonnet at about 7 am, and went into spaz attack mode. She has a toy from her foster mom called a Kong Wubba that she absolutely loves, and she went TO TOWN on it this morning. She started on the porch...
Wrestled around with it a bit...
Showed it who was boss...
Threw it up the stairs and chased it...
Tried to interest Homer in it...
...and got "The Look".
So, the list now contains no touchy paws, cantaloupe, fatty meats, and Kong Wubba. Duly noted.
Not to be deterred, Dora Splora found a case of the "zoomies" (probably hidden under the porch somewhere, I'm just glad she didn't find Jimmy Hoffa) and ran around the yard in a crazed manner for a while, ears flapping in the wind and gobs of spit and drool marking her trail behind her.
Our girl finally realized that no one was going to join her in frantically circling the yard, and so she came in (giving VERY reproachful looks to those of us still hunched over our coffee cups), and decided to keep Louie company while he built an empire upstairs. She was very serious in offering her opinion, and little by little, they worked it out.
It's no small wonder then, is it, that she ended up zonked out by a little after 8 am?
The rest of Dora's day was fairly uneventful - she helped us finish off some french fries from Five Guys, she slept most of the day, both on the bed and on the couch. I'm fairly certain now that her sleeping on the floor was a sop to my sensibilities for her first night in the house - she has since discovered that the furniture is MUCH more comfortable!
In any event, shortly after her nap upstairs, she nudged my camera out of my hands and onto the floor in the bedroom, and unfortunately it did not survive the impact. DOH!!! This doesn't seem to be my year for cameras - both of my Nikon SLRs succumbed to the trip in Costa Rica, and now my remaining point and shoot has bitten the dust, and only two days before vacation!
Emergency measures are going to be taken - how can I take the pups on vacation out in the woods and NOT have a camera?!?!
NO WORRIES - we'll figure something out - I've got my girl on the case!
Well, the Leader of the Pack has finally arrived! I was feeling a little rough this morning (yes, I know I'm too old to stay out until 4 am, but that hasn't stopped me yet, it just makes the next morning even more miserable) but luckily it was sunny and beautiful today, and all the traffic was going in the other direction when we went to pick up Dora.
I brought my brother with me, just in case, and he immediately proved that was a wise decision when Homer had a bit of trouble getting up into the back of his SUV. Thank God Todd is a big guy, he can pick Homer up like he's a puppy and set him right down in the back.
True to his easygoing nature, Homer was an angel all the way up to Maryland, and got in quite a few quality zzz's.
We actually made really good time, which I was surprised by, and ended up getting there before Mandy. SUCH a good thing, since Homer's nose went Defcon 43 the second he stepped out of the car, and he immediately started to forensically examine every blade of grass, pine bush and piece of random litter in the entire parking lot. It was almost some invisibly person came by and shot him up with speed - I've never seen him so alert! (Isn't he handsome?)
It didn't last long, thankfully, although he remained awake for most of the time we were there. Mandy came (with her family, and everyone is fabulous!), and there was Dora in all her glory - looming out the side window. Homer Jess went up to say hello, and like lightning she struck! She nipped him a bit, right in the schnoz, and then deigned to descend down to his level. I was pretty impressed - it only took her about 4.5 seconds to establish just WHO was going to wearing any sort of people clothes in that relationship, and by the time the bleeding had stopped she was already on to investigating her surroundings and expecting him to worship from two steps back.
Everything got settled pretty quickly (I forgot her adoption fee, like a big dumbass, but Mandy and Kathy were great about letting me mail it from home) and we were on our way home. Todd had picked up Lido's Pizza while we were there, and again Dora shows her smarts - she zeroed in on the boxes within 10 seconds of being in the car. Luckily we managed to reach the boxes before she did, and although she did not manage to eat any of the pizza, she did manage to share her giant strings of drool over the smell.
I am incredibly lucky that Homer Jess is a fairly inactive dog, and it looks preliminarily as though Dora will also be doing her share of keeping the couch down, since they are both extremely clever dogs, and could get into significant mischief were they inclined to be motivated. We have noticed that Dora likes to ride in the car with her head out the window, and she figured out almost immediately how to influence things so that she got her way. We were not even two miles from the pickup point when the most horrendous stench filled the car. Whilst gagging, we looked to see Dora innocently gazing at the closed window. When we opened the windows to circulate fresh air and get the reek out, she immediately stuck her head completely outside and closed her eyes. (Does anybody else hear "Freebird" in the background?)
We aired the car out, closed the windows, and turned the A/C back on. Not two minutes later, again with the stench. I have to give it to her, she's pretty slick - there was not even the faintest sound to indicate what might be coming. Down go the windows, out goes her head. The third time she bombed out an SBD (Silent But Deadly), we gave up and left the windows down all the way home. No sense asphyxiating to try and prove who's boss - she's definitely got superior ammunition.
The rest of the afternoon has been super chill - Dora Splora (short for Dora the Explorer) spent a few hours out in the yard, sniffing and marking and sniffing and barking. She is definitely a barker, although she may have been set off by the Bark Brigade. (My neighbor behind me has three small/medium dogs that live outside in her yard and bark 27 hours a day - I will admit that I sometimes light incense and pray that they all contract a flesh eating disease that only targets the vocal cords.) She seems to be handling them pretty well, and I WISH I had had my camera in hand when she went up to the fence (and they naturally all rushed to that spot to bark hysterically), turned herself around, lifted her tail, and gave them her ass. I almost hurt myself laughing. Who says dogs can't talk?
She's definitely a Dane though, I'll tell you that. After coming in and making her rounds of the house (to include counter surfing and checking out the pantry door handle to see if it was turnable), she went up into my bedroom, jumped on my bed, and made herself at home. True to Dane form, and very much in the spirit of my dearly beloved departed pups, the first thing she did when laying on the bed was put her ASS on my PILLOW. *Sigh* Welcome Back, Kotter. I definitely did not miss the dog hair in the sheets and the pillowcases that needed to be changed every day in my several pup-less months, but I must admit I am looking forward to having a snuggle buddy again - and Dora has already proven to be a champion snuggler.
In any event, we've got a new addition to the family tonight, and she looks like she'll fit in fine. She's bossy, pushy, and has no compunction about pushing you off the couch so she can sit on it. However, bless her heart, she's totally willing to learn and do as the Romans do in order to fit in!
Just kidding - she and I romped all over the yard this afternoon, while poor Homer just sat on the stairs and looked at us like we were mental. We're both pretty tired, and everybody else in the house has been asleep for hours, so Dora and I are going to hit the hay. Tomorrow's coming bright and early!
