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.)
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!
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!!!
These events took place over the course of one weekend when Bitey had just turned four months old. This was before I had a camera, and it took me pages and pages to scribble out all of the misery my puppy put me through in those two days!
I’ll save you!
This soap would be easier to grip if it had grooves…
This shower curtain should be longer.
You could save some money on kibble if you let me eat from here!
But I like coffee. Honest!
Buttons are too dressy! A pullover would do just fine.
Aww…don’t give this sweater away to charity. I like it!
I’ll tear out this page in Grandpap’s catalog so he knows just what to get me.
I’ll save some money by eating my yard yark.
What? I just wanted to read it!
Redecorating is fun!
Mommy’s shoe needs breaking in.
I’ll put this where Mommy can find it easily!
This rug would go better in the middle of the room.
I’ll test and make sure this coffee table leg is strong!
In the past week, the subject of brushing your dogs teeth has come up several times among friends. These days, I tell myself that the reason I do it is for my dog’s health. Thinking about it, however, started to bring up long-buried memories of why I really brush Bitey’s teeth…
Prior to Geordie, my family had a dog, and in all his years we never brushed his teeth. We never even thought about brushing a dog’s teeth. When I first heard about the practice, I thought people were going overboard with anthropomorphizing their pets. On the day Geordie showed up on my doorstep, my folks brought along a little puppy starter kit with a leash and bowls and toothbrush/toothpaste. I wasn’t sure how much I would use it, but it was a gift, so I wanted to at least try.
If you’ve ever brushed a puppy’s teeth, you know how awful this process can be. They are bitey creatures by nature, and putting your fingers in their mouths sets you up for a world of hurt. The reason I was so persistent about brushing Geordie’s teeth was that it was a war of wills. He was determined that he was going to be the boss of everything, and I was even more determined to prove him wrong. Wrestling the puppy each day and forcing him to be still while I cleaned his teeth turned out to be a good lesson on which of us was stronger willed.
Eventually, I found a brand of toothpaste that Geordie liked, and that helped the process a lot. Nowadays, he will actually remind me if I forget to brush his teeth. He still doesn’t like the brushing part, and for as long as he can, he stalls and hides his face against my shirt so that I can’t get to him. He thinks he is getting away with something, but to me it is a chance to get some snuggles from my non-snuggly guy.
Go ahead. Hide away, my little boy. I will take all the hugs I can get.
One day, when Geordie was several years old, we were out for a
How we imagine walking with our dogs will be.
walk when a neighbor saw us and said, “You are so lucky that your dog walks nicely on a leash! We just got a new puppy, and all she does is pull and pull.” Lucky? Really? I know she had to have seen us slogging around this neighborhood, regardless of the season, all to exercise my beast and try to get him to heel. Three years of walking several miles each week and coaching my boy every step of the way
After our “pet me until I go to sleep” experience on our first night, I woke up on the second day cautiously optimistic that perhaps the puppy did like me after all. Maybe our relationship was going to be OK!
That afternoon, the puppy was engrossed with a toy, so I decided to sneak into the next room and grab the newspaper. The puppy apparently didn’t notice me leave the room, but he heard me rustle the paper and came to investigate. What did he find? A strange person!! This scared him so badly that he scrunched his eyes shut and ran screaming (Yipe! Yipe! Yipe!) as fast as his little legs would take him. He barreled right into the refrigerator but was too afraid to open his eyes to navigate and kept banging into it again and again.
I sure made an impression on my boy, didn’t I? As soon as I’d left the room, he no longer recognized me! : (
A few years ago, we had a surprise snowstorm drop nearly 30″ on us overnight. The snow fell so evenly that at first I didn’t realize how deep it was. When I tried to step outside to walk the puppy in the morning, I fell…but what made me laugh was that although I fell, I didn’t fall down. I was stuck in snow so deep that all I did was flop forward slightly at the waist.
Geordie, on the other paw, did not fare as well. Although he had to “go”, he was so unnerved by the deep snow that he wanted to go back inside right away.
I love to go exploring after a snowstorm, and today was no exception. Getting around proved to be quite a challenge, though. I didn’t have snowshoes, just boots, so wherever I stepped, I sank deeply into the snow. Geordie was just heavy enough to fall through the crust and flounder in the silky powder beneath.
To take a step, I would have to raise my lead leg as high as I could, extend it as far as it could go, then lean forward (kind of like goose-stepping). Once my weight shifted, I would end up with my trailing leg extended straight behind me, resting on the snow. I had been doing this for a while, and couldn’t believe how exhausted I was. I must be more out of shape than I realized! Until I chanced a glance back to see how the puppy was doing. This is what I found:
Through all my clothes, I couldn’t feel him standing on me.
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!
The Adventures of Bitey Dog 