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My Profile
Fairytales for a Practical Princess - 2008-11-30
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8:11 a.m. - 2008-07-15
Today we have the second installment of the Princess Diary. Notes I took when our little doggy first came to live with us. I held back saying anything right away because we were trying each other on for size. It was unknown if Princess would adapt to a new environment, and frankly I wasn't sure if I was going to be a good dog mommy. Strike that, I knew I'd be good to the dog, no critter (human or otherwise) under my purvey isn't NOT well cared for, but I was unsure whether I'd be happy about it. The first six years of Wolf's life were so labor intensive and difficult it's left me scarred and wary of taking up having to care for anything that asks too much of my time and energy. Happily Princess warmed up to us very quickly and is thriving. As good as her previous owners were (not her original owners, those abusive scumbags should burn in hell) life for Princess at the farm was too noisy and busy. Too many people. Too many other animals. Too many phones shrilling and TVs racketing and roaring. During our short visit to meet Princess even I started to get edgy with all the chaos. Our skittish Princess has taken to the scholarly quiet of the Hobbit House like a duck to water. She and I are buddies and aside from her walkies' haphazard schedule life here is routine and pretty much chaos-free. (I take her out when I'm stuck. On a good word day she might only go out a few times, whereas on a bad word day I'm whistling for her to come outside like every 20 minutes.) Princess has relaxed to an amazing degree already. She accepts pats from both Mick and Wolf and was a good girl on the leash during walkies with each of them. Most encouraging. Even with me there's a marked upswing in her friendliness. This morning I got kisses and tail wags. Princess also pees and poops with confidence now, something she was loathe to do while on the leash. But no matter how long she held it in, she hadn't had one accident. I was worried that because of her reluctance to go she might make a mess inside simply because she couldn't hold it anymore and then she'd be ashamed. Princess is choosing to sleep on the porch in her open cage. She's still skittish about coming into the house, mostly because of the cats. She lived with cats at her old house and gets along with them fine, it's just that our two jokers dork out when Princess sticks her nose into the foyer. Lucky especially goes bonkers. Arched back, bottle brush tail, bulging eyes, he looks like a cartoon cat. Mandy is more sanguine, she just growls and stalks off all haughty and offended because some lousy dog is besmirching her house. All things in their time. The cats will deal and Princess will relax when she sees they are all show, no action. I sat out on the stoop brushing Princess yesterday and was astonished when she let me groom her feet. I never met a dog that didn't get upset when you tried to brush its feet or trim its toenails. Not Princess, she accepted the grooming with calm and the occasional doggy smile. Very cool. I'm glad because her coat is rather long and very fluffy; she's going to require a lot of upkeep. So in one way I've gotten my purse puppy after all. No bows, but I can brush and smooth her to my heart's content. Fortunately for her she's too big for silly dog outfits and never has to endure the humiliation of a rhinestone studded sweater or a t-shirt with a snarky saying on it. Even her collar is a utilitarian kelly green nylon one, though it does have a nifty golden ID tag in the shape of a bone hanging from it. A fancy silly 'jeweled' collar would be a waste anyhow, couldn't see it in all that fur. ~~~~~~~~~~~ One final note for today- When we first brought her home I mourned to Mick that our wary little dog would likely greet my stupid ex like he was the dog messiah. Can't tell you how many times I've seen dogs and cats whose owners say their animals are hostile/scared/stand-offish go slobbering up to Mike to prostrate themselves with wriggly ecstasy at his feet. Well ha ha ha! Princess loathes Mike. Barks and bares her teeth at him if he so much as comes near the house. The other day I let Mike in to make a repair and Princess sat on my feet growling a warning at Mike to stay away from her mom or she'd bite him. The ex was cheesed off but I thought it hilarious and after he was gone I gave Princess two dog cookies and told her she was an excellent judge of character.
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