It's Thursday!

...so that must mean an update on The Princess (who is currently on my list, considering she wouldn't settle down to go to sleep last night... I fear she spent the night in her private den in the master bath because she just wouldn't lie down and rest... and yeah, I feel bad about it and didn't sleep either).Penny is now 23 weeks old. On Saturday, she graduates from puppy kindergarten. We have a spot ready on our diploma wall, where her diploma will join mine, Richard's and Oscar's. She's done very well and has mastered come when called (she even ran up a hill last Saturday and did everything the Big Dogs did) as well as Sit. She's working on Stay, Leave It, and Drop It. Those last two are a little more difficult because they involve ignoring stuff she really wants but can't have.

We're working on walking on a leash. She's come a long way from June, when she would just lay in the yard in her harness, not moving. We've gotten her to walk down the road on the leash and it seems like she's actually enjoying getting out and about. She likes greeting other people who give her the proper amount of adoration, and she doesn't shy away from other dogs.

We haven't decided yet whether or not to enroll her in basic obedience, because we think we've gotten a lot of it in the puppy kindergarten class. We think that right now the important thing is to keep working on the things she's learned and to keep reinforcing them.

We're considering a short weekend trip with her to see how she does. She hasn't ridden in the stroller yet -- we may try to get it out around town here and get her used to it before she does a big shopping adventure to an outlet mall.I think this photo reflects Penny's overall opinion on clicker training. If she could, she'd use the clicker to get us to bring her treats on demand!

Dogs on Thursday!

Penny and I will now be a regular contributors to Dogs on Thursday, a blog where, interestingly enough, people talk about their dog every Thursday. :) Our intro is up there today. Our regularly scheduled blog time will be the 4th Thursday of each month, so check there for what I hope will be amusing anecdotes on The Princess.

So since it's Thursday... and The Princess is allegedly a dog... I'll share a story here. This past weekend we went to Costco and they had bags of 12 inch bully sticks for $20. Now, if you have a dog, you know that bully sticks are wonderful chew toys. We refer to them as "dead animals", because that's what they are. They're some part of a cow, and frankly, I don't want to know what part they are. The 6" bullys I had bought for her on sale were about $2.50 a pop, so I figured we could buy the bag and cut them in half and be golden for a bit.

Except... The Princess had other plans. She took the 12 inch bully, which frankly is just about as long as she is, and ran through the house with it. Then she took it up on the sofa and settled in for a chew. In three days she had whittled it down to about half size. So much for the cutting it in half plans. The big dog needs a big bully stick, right??

At least it's keeping her from gnawing on our hands...

Edited to add the picture of The Princess... isn't she just the cutest when she's napping?

25 Years Ago Today

... I married the most wonderful man in the world.

Today is our silver wedding anniversary. Truly doesn't seem as if 25 years have passed. Seems like just yesterday we were just getting out of Georgia Tech and starting our life together.

We've been through a lot... We've built two houses. Been through stressful jobs... the loss of a couple of them... and job changes that go along with building a career. Been through the loss of my dad and his mom. Started my business. Decided along the way that our family would be the two of us and whatever pet we had at the time, because that was what was right for us.

We've been blessed... we haven't faced the challenges a lot of other couples have. I hope that it's because we've kept our marriage God-centered and focused on Him and each other.

I know that I love my husband more now than I did 25 years ago when we got married, and I didn't think that was possible.

Happy anniversary Richard. I love you, and I'm looking forward to spending the rest of my life with you.

The Drama Queen Update

It was bath day for the Drama Queen. Took her in 9 ish this morning. The cheerful folks at Dr. Weaver's, no doubt not having heard about the events of Wednesday, said it would only take a couple of hours and they'd call when she was ready.

At 11 I called to see how she was doing and how many people she'd bitten. Oh, she's fine, they said. Just a little squirmy, but she's giving us kisses. We'll call you when she's ready.

What? Giving us kisses? Excuse me? What happened to little miss "Oh you're touching me I think I'm going to die!" that appeared a mere two days ago?

At 1 I started getting a little antsy and called again to discover she was just finishing up her spa visit, so I jumped in the Hummer and drove up to get her. They brought her out complete with little pink gingham bandanna around her neck.

Little snot ignored me. Pretended she didn't even know who I was. Didn't want to leave the tech. I was crushed.

Got her in the car and headed for Chick-Fil-A, where the Magic Window produced a box of nuggets that we took home. She inhaled them and has been sleeping off her experience for the rest of the afternoon.

Silly dog.

I have a Drama Queen

So Penny has to go see Dr. Weaver for a nail trim (known here as a mani-pedi... we want The Princess to think she is only getting the Royal Treatment she deserves). We also needed to get her weighed to get the proper dose of Advantage Multi, which is what we're using for flea/heartworm prevention.

The good news: She continues to grow and is up to 8 pounds of dachshund fury. At five months, Dr. Weaver says she'll probably add about 10 to 20% more body weight when she's full grown... so we're probably looking at a petite flower of 9 to 10 pounds when she's full grown.

The bad news: She can put on a drama scene worthy of Camille. She began screaming when we got in the room at the vet's office. She continued screaming and brought it to a crescendo when the vet tech picked her up for Dr. Weaver to begin trimming her nails.

Then she bit the vet tech. I was mortified.

They switched places. Dr. Weaver held, while the tech trimmed nails.

Penny bit Dr. Weaver. I wanted to drop through the floor.

I don't think I've apologized so much in so short a period of time in my life. Of course, they laughed it off and said it was part of the job. Dr. Weaver spoke sternly to Penny and everything ended with Penny giving Dr. Weaver kisses.... but still.

Now, Penny still hasn't had the dreaded bath. We put her in an empty tub the other night, and you'd have thought we were killing her... so we've decided to wimp out and let the pros do it. I'm taking her back to the vet's office on Friday for a trip to the beauty salon.

Pray for them.

Twitterfied

I enjoy Twitter. It helps me keep track of a number of friends of mine, both in real life and my cyber friends. I get a lot of NASCAR news updates from a lot of writers I follow, as well as several drivers and crew members (I won't deny that a bunch of us were squeeing like 14 year old fangirls when Michael Waltrip actually tweeted back to our friend Jen, but that's another matter entirely).

Penny has her own Twitter account, and she routinely tweets and sends pictures commenting on life as a dachshund puppy. Turns out she's not alone. There's several other dachshunds on Twitter who are also very communicative and a number of other dogs who are following her. Penny actually has tweet conversations with a couple of dachshunds on a regular basis. They don't like thunder, vacuum cleaners, or baths either.

What irritates me about Twitter is the inevitable appearance of spammers. No, I don't smoke cigars. No, I don't want to buy steaks. Thank you, but I'm not really in debt over my head, and even if I were, I don't think I'd need your help to get out.

I've been trying to figure out if there's a pattern to what I post that might make me more appealing to these dweebs, but for the life of me I can't.

And no, frankly I don't want to see your sexxxxxxy pictures, either. Neither does Penny.

I'm wondering if any of these porn spammers know they're really following a 20 week old dachshund puppy??

Help a pooch?