puppy

Westies are Besties!

Well, so say the Westies, anyhow!

Oil Painting of Westie lad.

Here a handsome Westie lad sits on the groomer’s table, waiting for some to notice his pretty red bow tie.  It won’t take long.  Who could resist looking at that furry face?

This little guy will be shipping to his forever home later this week, and I am going to miss him.  While I work on these pictures, I feel like I get to know the mischievous natures of the pets I am painting.  My consolation is that I can soon start another picture and get to meet another happy little fuzzball!

Good boy!

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First Week Memories

These memories are for when I look back and try to recall what Toby did at which stages of development.

During his first week….

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I had to add water to Toby’s kibble because he was too little to eat the chunks when they were dry.

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Toby didn’t know how to shake.  First he would shake the back end, then the front end.  He didn’t know how to shake them together to properly fluff his fur.

Grrrrr!

At first, Toby was too tiny to make the first step out of the front door, so I would carry him.  One time, I was carrying him inside my coat for the five steps from the front door to the snow when he just conked out.   I couldn’t bring myself to wake him, so I just stood there with the puppy tucked in my coat. Toby was too tiny to see, and as people drove past, they gave me the strangest looks.  (“Look at the odd woman standing in the yard looking at her coat!”)

Geordie wasn’t a happy camper because he had to wait inside.

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The Christmas Tree

Oh come on! I am not a puppy anymore!

I had forgotten about having to do this until I went to visit my friend.  I thought she had been interrupted while she was decorating her tree because it only looked half-decorated.  Then her two dogs got into a playful wrestling match, and I realized why the decorations only went from the middle up. “Don’t decorate below the Dog Line!”  (We had a similar phrase in my family that said not to eat the grapes that grew below the Dog Line.)

Little Cairn terrier takes a nap under the Christmas tree.Geordie always liked taking a nap under the tree.  I wasn’t sure if he were waiting for Santa or if he were participating in the nativity.  Perhaps a little of both!

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Dog Days of Summer – A Poem by Geordie the Dog

Dog Days of Summer

Be careful when you close that
big white fridge door.
I’m lying quite near
on the cool kitchen floor.
I don’t want you dropping
stuff on my poor head.
I’m really alive
though I look like I’m dead.
I’m missing the ice and the snow
and the slush
of Winter as you scoot me around by my tush.
I think that this Summer,
I’ve paid my “heat dues”
Now how ’bout we go on an
Alaskan cruise!!!

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Find the Biscuit

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Coming up with activities to keep Geordie occupied during his first winter proved to be challenging.  He never has been the type of pup to play by himself.  He would much rather have someone else there with him.  (This can be exhausting when your puppy is awake 20 hrs a day!)   Our family dog loved to play “Find the Biscuit” and would search and search until he found every treat we had hidden.  Hoping to buy myself a few minutes of peace and quiet, I introduced Geordie to the game.

Since Geordie wasn’t good at Sit/Stay yet, I had my Mom hold him in one room while I hid a biscuit in another.  After we released him to search, we sat down where we could see him and had a chat.

Geordie searched for a few minutes, then came over to my Mom, made eye contact, and made a noise that had the cadence of “I dunno”.  He clearly wanted her to tell him where his treat was.  Without gesturing, she said, “It is over on the register, behind the end table”.  Geordie paused for a moment to think, got an “Aha!” look on his face, then ran behind the end table to the register and grabbed the biscuit.   The two of us were completely stunned.  Until now, we had no idea that this little 8 month old puppy had the linguistic skills to understand that sentence.   So surprised, we kept jumping around yelling, “He knew what we were saying!  He understood!”

We didn’t realize it, but that was the first indication that we had a puppy Noam Chomsky on our hands.

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