The Siren's Song

Today, Angel was lying in her pen in my office. She was a little more restless today, so I put some of her toys in the pen with her to keep her entertained. I was absorbed in my code, when all of a sudden she started biting on her squid toy, making it squeak. After a few seconds, she started to howl, squid still in her mouth. Then, she bit on it again and made it squeak. And then, another howl. Back and forth, over and over again. Her howl was a sad, mournful cry, like a siren’s song, calling to the squid…singing to the squid. And the squid would squeak its sad reply.

Running With the Brakes On

I’ve taken to jogging with Angel during our evening “walks.” It’s the only way that I can keep her motivated and moving forward lately. We’ll walk outside, and she’ll immediately lie down in the front yard. I have to pick her up to get her moving again. Then, two houses down, she’ll lie down again. So, I decided to make her run. I figured that if she’s trying to keep up with me, then she can’t lie down. That is mostly true. A couple of times, she did lie down, and she ended up getting dragged across the sidewalk on her back.

The only issue with jogging with her is that she will bite the leash. So, she’s running down the sidewalk with the leash in her mouth, intentionally going slow, so she can pull backwards. It’s like trying to run with the brakes on. Eventually, she gets tired and gives in to my tyranny.

We take a route that purposefully has a hill at the end, so it’s harder. As soon as Angel hits that hill, she increases her pace. It’s no longer me pulling her along, but her pulling me along. About four houses away from our yard, she will tear into a full-on sprint. I imagine the neighbors seeing a blur and a smaller blur as we zoom by their windows at full speed.

Since I started jogging, Troy has refused to accompany us on our outings. He has such poor stamina that he ends up needing to stop every ten feet. I get frustrated, and he doesn’t enjoy being left behind. So, he decided the best way to deal with this is not to work on improving his stamina, but to just quit.

Chill

Angel and I had a good day today. I bought a clip, so she could sit in the backseat with Troy. He actually enjoyed petting her on the way to school. It doesn’t hurt that she’s so calm in the car. After we dropped him off at school, I moved her to the front seat, and she climbed over the console to sit in my lap. She fell asleep snuggled in my arms.

I put a playpen in my office, so she could be in my space while I work. She spent the day napping, interrupted by waking up to chew on her rawhide, followed by another nap. It must be a rough life! She is the most chill dog that I’ve ever seen. She was quiet and sweet all day. In between meetings, I would take her outside to get some sunshine and go potty. I found out that she and I have the same pee cycle…about once an hour. So, it wasn’t unusual to find us both in the backyard weeing! I was; however, more discreet with my poops.

All Hades broke loose when my wife got home though. I had to go to my men’s Bible study, and apparently Angel decided to be on her worst behavior after I left. She spent the hour that I was gone peeing and pooping all over the house. So, I did not come home to peace and tranquility, like I normally do after seeing my friends. Oh well, we’re still figuring it all out.

Snuggler

I decided to take Angel with me to drop Troy off at school. One, because I don’t yet trust her alone. And two, because I thought she might enjoy riding in the car. I want her to get used to being in the car, so she's cool with taking road trips with us if the need arises.

Since Troy is still iffy on her, I put her in the front passenger seat. She was very chill, snuggling up on the console to be close to me. I stroked her until she fell asleep. Unfortunately, it was on top of my arm, so I had to drive the rest of the way with only my left hand. Oh well, it was really awesome. As we neared home, she decided to climb over the console to sit in my lap. I guess she's a snuggler.

Terror

Well, Troy is terrified of Angel. He’s so afraid that she might bite him (while she’s playing), that he spent the entire day standing on the couch. Every time his feet touched the floor, Angel would run over to say “hi,” and Troy would take off running back onto the couch again. No amount of coaxing by us could get him off. He likes the idea of petting her while she’s calm, but being a puppy, she likes to play a lot too.

I drug Angel’s crate into the room with me, so I could keep an eye on her at night. Around 3:00 am, we both were startled awake by a noise, and we couldn’t go back to sleep. So, after an hour or so of both of us flopping back and forth, we finally went out for a walk around the neighborhood. It was amazing how well she did on a leash, trotting along right beside me with only minimal prodding. After our walk, I put her back in her crate, and she contentedly chewed on her rawhide for a little bit before going sleep.

I took her on two more walks throughout the day, both with Troy joining. That was about the only thing that he eagerly wanted to do with her. And we spent most of the rest of the day outside in the backyard running around. Needless to say, Angel and I are both exhausted.

The Dawn of Angel

Well, we finally did it. Troy had been asking for months when we were going to get a dog. So, we broke down today and went to the shelter to look. We had seen one in particular online that looked promising, but while we were there, we checked out a few others too. We shouldn’t have bothered. We should have trusted our instincts. The first little girl was the dog for us, and since we all agreed (a miracle in and of itself), we adopted her right on the spot.

We named her Angel. She a husky mix, but we’re not sure on the other part. She has long legs; short gray, black, and white fur; crystal blue eyes; and pointy, floppy ears. She is very sweet, cuddly, and chill most of the time. But she also loves to play! I got her a Frankenstein toy, and she has thoroughly enjoyed ripping him apart. But it’s like having a baby in the house all over again. I had to baby proof the house and the backyard. We also had to constantly be chasing her around to make sure she didn’t go potty on the floor. Hopefully, we’ll get it all figured out soon.

Honestly, the only bad thing I can say about Angel is that she’s a traitor. For some unknown reason, she decided that my wife is her “hooman,” and she’s glued to her leg wherever she goes. I pet her. I play with her. I take her for walks. I even give myself a heart attack running around in the backyard, and she only has eyes for my wife. Oh well, maybe I can win her over next week, when she’s stuck with me all day.

UPDATE: I figured out why Angel is latched onto my wife. She’s the one that feeds her! And I found out that she’s also been sneaking Angel boiled eggs in the morning. I’m going to have to keep my eyes on both of them. The tides are turning. The women are multiplying and rising up! Troy and I need to stay alert, or we’ll get outnumbered!