Fodder for Past Posts

With the arrival of Owen in the house, my ability to get things done has fallen by the wayside.  If I have a chance to take a shower, I consider it an accomplishment.  In the past month or so I've had pictures that I planned to use for blog posts, but those posts were never written.

For example, my parents were here twice helping out, and each time they brought their Tibetan Terrier, Nellie.  For some reason, the only picture I managed to take of Nellie while she was here is this one:

It's not the most ladylike of positions, and if I were a good sister, I probably wouldn't post it.  Sorry, Nellie!  I'm sure you were doing other things while you were here besides lying with limbs akimbo on my living room floor!

And at one point towards the end of our unpacking after the move, I had piled a few boxes on top of Dorothy's dog kennel.  Plum decided to make a home in one, like a little furry purple hobo:

There is nothing a cat likes more than a new place to sleep!

Dorothy and Nellie

This is Nellie:

I finally got a picture of her in which she is not covered with or standing in snow, looking like a yeti.  She is a Tibetan Terrier, and, well...let's just say they do things differently in Tibet.

She's a great dog, don't get me wrong, but she has an independent streak that, having lived with a pug for 17 years, seems a bit odd to me.  For instance, sometimes she doesn't wake up and come downstairs until 10:00 a.m.  My parents will have been up for hours by this time, DOWNSTAIRS, doing their thing, and Nellie is perfectly content to be in a different room on a different floor of the house from them.  She walks several miles daily, but has always much preferred the walk home to the walk out.  She'll test her four brakes several times on the way out on a walk; and then when her parents turn around to walk home, she is all, as I put it, Queen Victoria on the prow of a ship, head held high, nose forward, hair bouncing in a stately fashion.

Nellie was pretty good with young Dorothy, on the whole.  Dorothy would have preferred it if Nellie had been a little more playful, but they did have several good chasing sessions in the back yard.  Here's the first few pictures of such a session, when I hadn't yet figured out how to get both of them in the picture at the same time:

And then a few grizzly bear, gnashing of teeth, shots:

And finally, a shot of them indoors, resting, with Dorothy in Nellie's old crate and Nellie lying companionably beside:

That'll do, girls, that'll do.

When Are We Going To Get There?

It is a 10-hour car ride from Philadelphia to Damariscotta, Maine, for all intents and purposes.  It should take around nine, but there is always traffic at some point (I'm talking about you, Hartford, and you, NH tolls, and even you, Wiscasset).  I was not really looking forward to the trip, as I didn't know how Dorothy would behave for such a long journey.  She'd only been in a car twice since I brought her to Philly, and both trips ended up with Dorothy either car-sick or way too nervous, and therefore regurgitating her dinner.

To try to make sure that there was no nausea on this trip, I gave Dorothy some Cerenia, a miracle car-sick drug that is made for dogs, but that my cats have successfully been taking for a couple of years.  It's a drug that takes away the nausea, but does not cause any kind of sleepiness or dopiness.  I was nervous as to how Dorothy would respond, but for the most part it all went quite well.  About two hours after Dorothy took the meds each time, she drooled a bit.  But she didn't get sick, and she also behaved like an angel -- sleeping for the ten hours of the journey each way, while also happily getting out to stretch her legs and do her business each time we stopped.

Here is Dorothy on the trip from Philadelphia to Maine, eyeing what Posy is doing in the top bunk of the carriers, and then snoozing all relaxed:

While in Maine, Dorothy also went on lots of shorter car rides to get to good walking routes and hiking trails.  She did well on these trips too, although the minute we got to our destination each time she would basically void her bowels, to be blunt.  (Ahem, TMI, I know.)  I'm hoping that these many shorter rides that ended in a fun activity did a lot towards making Dorothy realize that Car Rides Are Her Friend.  However, her willingness to relax a bit could also be that on these trips she was sitting in the back with her Granny, and with her fellow dog, Aunt Nellie.

Nellie has always been great in the car--she just jumps on the seat or on the floor and curls up and goes to sleep immediately.  I'm hoping that Dorothy has learned that a car ride is no big deal from watching the behavior of Nellie.

I also think that on the first car ride we go on now that we are back in the city, I might sit in the back with her and keep her calm company.  Sean asked if this meant that he should wear a uniform as he sits alone in the front and drives us, but I said no need.  I have a sinking suspicion that once Dorothy is nonchalant about the car in general, she will become quite the backseat driver, barking out commands like a sergeant.

Dorothy Meets a Yeti

Dorothy spent her first ten weeks amongst her 7 litter mates, and then also with her parents, her Aunts Dharma and Suzie, and a pretty senior citizen pitbull whose name I am forgetting.  When I picked her up, I took her to my parents’ house for the first two days I had her.  While there, she met Nellie, their Tibetan Terrier.

As far as I know, this was Dorothy's first exposure to a very furry beastie, and I can only wonder what she made of it.  I pictured her writing a mental journal:  “Week Ten.  Met a Yeti.  Not sure if she is friendly, but am enjoying playing with all of her toys.” 

OMG!  Bigfoot DOES exist!

Can you see this too or is it just me?

Already, Dorothy was deploying her signature wrestling move, which is to go for the jowls and hang on for dear life.  Nellie, to her credit, was very gentle with Dorothy.

Soon Dorothy and I and the cats are heading to Maine for a few weeks’ vacation, and I am looking forward to seeing how Dorothy and Nellie interact.  No doubt Dorothy will want to play with Nellie constantly, and will make a pest out of herself…but since this is what Nellie used to do with my elderly pug, Tulip, I can’t help but think Nellie is about to receive her just desserts.

The yeti with its master