She has asked to go out a couple of times, but she mostly just sleeps, on the floor or on one of the dog beds. She looked at me, dropped to the floor, and instantly fell fast asleep. Her English comprehension clearly rivals that of Chaser (and a new favorite fictional dog, Six-Thirty from Lessons in Chemistry). Puppy zoomies on sterioids! With barking! And the squeaking of toys!Īfter a couple of minutes of this celebration, I looked at her sternly and in my best Mom Voice, said, “If you don’t settle down by the time I finish this chapter, I am putting you into your crate.” She leapt up and began racing around the room, looping under the bed in a way only she can (and probably only for a few more weeks). When I settled in to read - also part of the going-to-bed routine - she knew things were Different.Īnd she celebrated. But, instead of calling her to “kennel,” I propped open the crate door and placed a pet gate at the bedroom entrance.ĭotty watched with great interest from her perch on Orly’s dog bed (or, more accurately, on Orly). I set up a second dog bed in the bedroom.įinally, it was time: We did our evening routine of last call and tooth-brushing. When she was reliably sleeping through the night and asking clearly to go out, I decided that she was ready. Looking for buried treasure!ĭotty is growing up! She no longer has to sleep in a crate. The “too busy/important to pay attention to you” dismissals… The hiding stuff and sneaking off behind the garden shed to engage in forbidden activities (digging, mostly).
She’s learning new things every day: Leash manners retrieving all sorts of things digging and using her nose to find buried treasures taking treats politely figuring out a wide variety of treat toys deconstructing soft toys and rugs digging and making huge holes in the yard extracting the water from her water bowl using all of the tools at her disposal (mouth and front paws) pouncing on the spray in her splash pad soaking up all the muddy water from a puddle … the challenges are endless, varied, and all, in Dotty’s opinion, fabulous.īut the teenageriness. This treat toy has Dotty stumped (for now) She still adores her big sister Orly and wants to do, see, feel, taste everything that Orly does. Jaded and so over spending time with Mom, though. She grabs at treats and gobbles her food, never saying “Thanks.” She protests the unfairness of, well, pretty much everything. She demands her “rights” in a loud, entitled voice. (She’s not little, though she topped 23 pounds at her 12-week checkup!)īut her attitude! Her attitude is 100% teenager! She’s still got her baby fuzz and a very puppyish, sweet face. Yet she seems to have become an adolescent, a pleasure that I should not be forced to endure until she’s at least six months old. She did leave behind enough for the cutest ice-cream mustache!ĭotty is just over three months old as I write this.
At that point, taking no chances, Dotty instantly converted to a gobbler and swallowed her ice cream. Mom had to intervene and rescue Dotty’s ice cream. Orly was onto Dotty’s “licker” approach and, under the guise of licking alongside her, tried to gobble Dotty’s ice cream. Luckily, Dotty was amenable to sharing.īefore digital nomad Ken hit the road again, we had a second ice cream outing. Once Orly realized that Dotty had ice cream while she did not … Orly quickly adapted. ( Cali was also a gobbler, except on her birthday, when she got an entire kid-size scoop and took the time to enjoy it…) (All of the photos are stills from the video he shot.) My friend Ken, a digital nomad who makes frequent stops in Missoula, was my capable dog-wrangling assistant and documentarian. Naturally, Orly and I looked forward to Dotty’s first ice cream! The momentous occasion finally arrived on a hot evening when I had a handy pair of helping hands. A less frequent, but no less important, spring, fall, and winter ritual as well …
Visits to the Big Dipper, our neighborhood ice cream stand (and a Missoula icon) are an important summertime ritual.
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