Happy belated, Penny!

Although Penny was born on January 31 one year ago, I've just gotten around to blogging about it. Be thankful I don't blog about her as often as I'd like to, because I do not want you to think I'm one of those folks who lives solely for their pets and little else. However, I do have to write that she brings joy to our lives every day and seeing her little tail wag lowers my blood pressure and makes me smile. I could have had the crummiest day in a long time, and when I walk in the door and see that sweet face, everything seems better. I understand completely why rehabilitation programs in prison have waiting lists for inmates to work with and train dogs, because animals give such unconditional love. Imagine this hulking, tattooed criminal getting on the floor with a lab and cooing, "Who's my girl? Who's my sweetie?" I've read a little about the programs and they screen VERY carefully, and so many prisoners want to do it that they behave beautifully to show they can work with these animals. Seriously, who can resist this little face?

This was her in the car as we brought her home last March as a first anniversary gift to each other. She came straight from the breeder's and smelled like the eighteen dogs she lived with, but we loved her immediately. Weighing about seven pounds, she was so little I gave her a bath in the kitchen sink. She slowly learned how to go up the stairs, not to go into the basement, and that putting her paws on our legs and looking beseechingly at us while wagging her tail would melt us in about three seconds.


Now she's a bit bigger, a few shades lighter, and has so much personality that she makes us laugh all the time. We still have some work to do training her, but she's taught us so much as well, from remembering to close the gate EVERY SINGLE TIME to appreciating just lying in bed with a fuzzy little warm body on top of the covers, feeling the weight on our feet. Penny has woken me in the middle of the night to give me kisses and just when I was about to get annoyed, she suddenly plopped down with her head on my chest and all was forgiven.

She makes us happy and drives us crazy and we have to remind ourselves that she's a dog sometimes when we overworry, but I wouldn't trade her for anything. Happy first birthday, little Pen! We love you!

Penny Pics

A little before and after with Penny's "salon" visit. See how shaggy she was?

Like the jingle bells as the collar?

I love my dog

I open with a warning: If you do not want to read about puppies and puppy mess, stop right here.

Penny is a dear, sweet girl. She went to doggie day care yesterday and had a fabulous time playing with another Penny, a Sheltie who apparently doesn't play with just any dog. Yes, my dog's special. Fortunately they tired her out enough that she conked out when she got home.

Fast forward to 5:15 this morning when I awoke to her whining to go outside. She did this a few nights ago at 2am and I took her out then, waiting 15 minutes while she made about five separate piles. Gross. Sorry. I made T go out with her this time and she apparently stepped in some of it and we didn't realize it until the offending odor alerted us. Looking more closely, we saw she'd bespoiled the rug and the bedspread. Sigh. So at 5:30 T attacked the rug and I attacked the yucky paw and her hiney with a very wet washcloth. Fortunately she's getting a haircut today so they can wash her and make cleanup a little easier for us in the future. But don't worry--no showdog cut this time. We want her fuzzy and happy. Pictures to follow, I'm sure.

Enjoy the day!

Canine Indignities

Well, as I write this, Penny lies curled up as a groggy doggie on the chair behind me, as she just came back from the vet: We took Bob Barker's long-touted advice and spayed our pet. Aside from yucky sutures down south, she has the added humiliation of having to wear one of those cones, or lampshades, as some call them, because she kept trying to pick at them:


Doesn't she look out of it? :-( Her little pupils are all dilated and she can barely stand up, poor sweet girlie, but she should get relatively back to form by tomorrow. At least we got her a new bed: She peed in the old one, unbeknownst to us, and we had to throw it out; no amount of cleaning product could get the eau de chien scent out for love or money. Eurgh. Now we can start her on adult food, too...our little girl's growing up! It happens so quickly....

More Penny

Well, Scarlet asked for more Penny pictures, and since she just got back from the groomer's, I thought I'd post these since she won't look any better than this for quite a while. You can finally see her eyes--T didn't even realize they were that high up on her face!

Before, when she looked like a little mop ragamuffin:

We really do brush her; you just can't tell.

After--you can see her sweet face!



Although I'm not used to her looking like this yet, I already think she looks more like herself. I can't explain it. Now all we have to do is change the kitchen floor so it matches the gorgeousness of The Pen, as we call her.

Opinionated Puppy

So as I waited for the computer to warm up just now, I looked behind me and saw Penny taking a giant whiz on a pile of graded essays. Clearly, she thinks they're not that good. I shall refrain from comment.

We also inadvertently introduced her to the pool yesterday: With the 90 degree weather and no A/C installed yet, we headed to T's mother's to swim, thinking just maybe we'd get the dog to come into the pool. She wasted no time in leaping directly in and coming up swimming. So proud! I wish I could post the phone picture I took (if anyone can tell me how to do this, I will) because when you drench a very fluffy dog, she looks like a skinny, drowned rat. Seriously one of the funniest sights I've seen in a long, long time.

Now I'm off to the farmer's market and put gas in the car before it goes above $4.09. Sigh. I need to keep my job just for the walking commute.

Separated at birth?

My friend L. made the comment that Penny looks like Fizzgig from The Dark Crystal. You be the judge:

More pictures of the pup

OK, I promise not to become one of those weirdos who gets all overcuddly about her dog in public, but would you agree that this puppy has an incredibly sweet face?

And a funny one?

Check out a few more if you want on Flickr--I added it on the side of the blog.

Miss Funnypenny, doing my civic duty

Well, after a brief bout of illness with the puppy over which T and I both panicked and raced her to the vet (well, we got my MIL to do it since we were both at work--thank you!!!!), Penny is on the mend and loving her chicken and rice we've given her to settle her stomach. On the one hand, I'm sure we didn't need to freak out, but on the other, she's so tiny and helpless, and to see her so draggy got us worried. Fortunately, we have a good vet and an excellent, understanding vet friend (thanks so much, J!), and we're good to go. Thus, I have new pics to share in celebration of Penny's First Illness (no, I did not document it):

Tasting T's head

Who's scaring whom?

Sleeping comfortably

CHEEEEESE!
(I took this at the exact second she finished a yawn, trying to get it midway. I love the result I got.)

Playing in the kitchen

Happy ladies

Today I had jury duty, which consisted of me sitting in a room, albeit a comfortable chair, grading papers while I waited for them to call my name. At noon they called my group in to tell us that, while we could leave, because of some situation they have to have us come back again tomorrow. And so justice moves on. For you Simpsons fans, there was a guy named Robert Terwilliger in there, aka Sideshow Bob. On a positive note, I did get to come home early to my puppy, who then fell asleep in my lap for an hour. You can't complain about anything with a lap full of warm puppy.

The newest (canine) member of the family!

Well, after a combination of poor directions, phone calls, and the magic of the Garmin GPS, we made to Kitchener, ONT to pick up our little bundle of joy, who is currently penned in the kitchen and howling because I've left her, so I have to make it fast.

I think I can say with no bias whatsoever that Penny is the cutest puppy who ever trod this green earth. She's eight weeks old, so she's still incredibly floppy and soft and sweet. So far my favorite thing she does is try to scratch her collar while she walks, so she does this crazy, three-legged stagger. She's quickly learning to "eliminate" outside, which also makes me think she'll be doing linear algebra by late spring. Basically, we are just in complete love with her already. I'll only post some of the pictures (We've already taken 50), but I think you'll agree that she's a very sweet beast, as T says. We're training her on a combination of Cesar Millan and www.dogdaysusa.com, a fantastic site run by a woman I know who ran an extremely successful dog day car/puppy training center here before moving to Atlanta (too bad for us!).

I wish I could take the week off to play with her!

In the car , on the way home.

A typical terrier, she's tried to "kill" all of her plushy toys by snapping their necks

Just to give you a size comparison....

We figured she'd grow into the bed; she loves it.


With "grandpa", being her silly self

With Mom (Grandma)


Tell me you can resist this face!

Hope you're having as fun a weekend as we are!