The Shiz

Angel finally learned how to get out of the car on her own. I’ve been trying to teach her to be down on the floor first and then climb out of the car instead of trying to make the jump from Troy’s car seat all the way to the ground. It took me having to drag her off the seat a couple of times for her to learn, but today, she jumped down on the floor and hopped out of the car all on her own. Then, she strutted her sassy hips to the garage door like she knew she was the “shiz.” I’m so proud of her. She’s really smart.

OCD

Angel is mad at me. Why, you might ask? Because I turned off the ceiling fan in the den. I did it while she was in the backyard, enjoying the beautiful Fall weather, and the moment she came inside, she knew something was different. She looked up at the fan, staring intently for several minutes, never blinking, almost willing it to start moving. But when it didn’t, she gave it the stink eye, and then she turned her disgust on me. And every single time she’d come inside, she’d do the same thing. She’d check to see if the fan had come to its senses, then she’d give it the stink eye for its betrayal. I’m not sure if she knew I was the one that had caused this chaotic disruption to her life, or if she simply included me because I was in the room. But either way, the fan and I were on her poop list until Troy came home and switched it back on. After that, she was perfectly fine again.

Breakthrough

We had a breakthrough today. Troy has actually been attempting to get off the couch and walk slowly across the room while Angel is roaming free. He was encouraged and emboldened by the fact that she stood there and watched him, but she didn’t chase him. So, he’s attempted it several times with positive results. My mom even managed to get him to climb off the couch and open the back door, so that Angel could go outside. This afternoon, he told me, “I’m warming up to the dog. I’m feeling more comfortable walking around her.” Maybe this will be the start of something more!

The Flash

After my mom, Angel, and I picked Troy up from school, we all decided to take a walk and enjoy the cool afternoon weather. It’s finally starting to feel like Fall here. At some point, my son decided that he wanted to sprint down the sidewalk to see if Angel would chase him. I guess he’s more confident, knowing that I’m holding her leash. Follow she did…at a full-on, break-neck sprint. Ears back, tail straight behind her, a sleek arrow of chaos streaking along the sidewalk toward my unsuspecting son. When he saw her coming, he let his legs fly as fast as they could, but she still easily caught him. So, he turned and headed back toward my mom. Angel came to a skidding halt, changed direction, and took off in a blaze of speed again. The entire time, I’m sprinting behind her, the leash between us tethering our fates together.

After my son got too tired to keep running, Angel wasn’t done. She’d got the sprinting bug inside her, and she wanted to be loosed on the world. I had more in the tank too, so, I decided to see just how fast she really was. I kept pace with her as she maxed out her top speed, then I turned on the afterburner. I flew past her, and the look of surprise at seeing someone actually outrunning her nearly stopped her in her tracks…that is until she realized that the leash was heading in the other direction, and she was about to be whipped off her feet. She gave it all she had to keep up, but it wasn’t enough. I finally had to slow down and let her catch up.

I may have won today, but she’s only about a foot tall. When her legs get longer, I think I’ll be the one panicking to keep up. She’s a very fast dog, and she’s got good stamina. It may be fun!

Replacement Hooman

My mom brought Angel back up today. She’d been watching her while we were out of town. There were two things I wasn’t prepared for when I saw her. The first is that the hair on her back, which was tan with sprinkles of black when she left, is now black with sprinkles of tan. It’s a very dramatic change. That with the black on her face makes her look more like a German Shepherd, so we’ve decided that’s what the other part of the mix is. The second thing I didn’t expect is that I’ve been replaced as her hooman. When she saw me, she was friendly enough, I got a tail wag. But it was nothing to the reaction that my mom got when she came down the stairs. Angel’s entire body was wagging! Bum going one way, head and shoulders the other. I guess my mom spoiled her while she was at her house, so she’s decided that’s a better place to live. Now, I’m conflicted as to whether I should force her to stay here or let her go home with my mom. This preference coupled with my son’s continued and immediate fear makes me wonder if we’re the right family for her.

Hicpups

Today, Angel had the hiccups. She was sitting in the yard, whole body jerking, looking at me in a plea of help. So, I smiled at her and said, “Do you have the hiccups? I can help with that.” And the moment she turned her back on me, I jumped up in the air with a yowl and screamed, “Boooo!” Angel lifted off the ground, her whole body twisting in the air to face her unknown attacker. And when she came down, her hiccups were gone. Of course, a few seconds later, she had to take a poop, so I guess I scared the hiccups and the poop out of Angel today. I think that was the dog equivalent of “I need to check my shorts now.”