It’s a wonderful world.
Well, as you know, I know a lot about a little and a little about a lot. It never stops me from having an opinion, or giving an opinion but, end of day, face it…I don’t control much….because Wonder Boy and Momma call the shots…and what hasn’t been nailed down or written down in some indelible ink, somewhere in the universe, I get to decide….really, trust me….
It started the minute Momma lifted me out of my pen, away from my carefree siblings and took me to my Forever Home. Right away, can’t wait… I needed a grooming, a baby tub filled with luke warm water, eco-friendly shampoo, snarl free conditioner all invented (apparently) for little doggies like me. I was feeling deathly cold and trembling with fear but no worries…a big old terry cloth towel quickly took care of the first layers of water…and then my introduction to a beauty salon, lowest level possible hair blower and I was dry and silky in no time. Even so, I was left breathless and panting. How often was this going to happen to me?
The rest of the first day was spent in doing the same thing, often…like being taken outside, put down on the freshly sprouting green lawn (it was April) to do my business. Let’s see, I had lived in a barn, always inside, Check, I had lived in an apartment, always inside, Check, so what exactly were the expectations and how exactly did I go about I achieving them?
I was given some food in a shiny dish as well as a hard plastic water dish, placed on a braided mat, (just in case I was a sloppy eater), who had not attended Etiquette Training 101. Now eating, I understood….. Manners…not so much.
Since I am the Ultimate Einstein Earth Dog, I soon had the schedule worked out….get up time, go outside, take care of business, come in, eat. Little Nap followed by short bursts of training 
Sit, Good Girl, Stand, Good Girl, Walk, Good Girl, Come, Stop, Twirl….. it seems I am a Good, Good, Good Girl. More outside time, food and water. Longer Nap. More Training. More Eating. More Outside time…you got it …until after supper when I turned into a Holy Terror. Apparently, Puppy Burn, is a well documented phenomenon but the experts did not have the solution or timing down…I mean, like a Duracell battery I kept going and going and going, until I fell in an exhausted heap on my doggie pillow, cranky and bewildered. Yet over the months, the Puppy Burn faded until one day it was just Gone. Baby. Gone. Big sigh of relief from Momma & Daddy….
A couple weeks later in my Forever Home, a leash was brought out and laid on the floor and a matching harness. Hm, what was that? I sniffed, I chewed and was told. No. Stop. Okay…no smell… no taste.. not inviting anyway. A couple of days later, and just put your front paws here, Bob’s your uncle, clip on the leash and we are ready to go, says Momma. Huh? I just turned into a Douglas Fir Tree. I was going nowhere until this contraption was off me, I conveyed with my eyes. So dear, sweet Quite Contrary Momma says if I don’t want to move, so be it. We will walk another day and marched away to scrub some corner or mop the floor. Hey, did I just lose, ya think?
So I flopped down with a big sigh, harness, leash and all and sulked. I wasn’t a horse…I did not need a harness…I was descended from freedom loving wolves….did you ever see a wolf with a harness??? (Sleigh dogs don’t count).
Finally in exasperation I found my doggie pillow and napped. An hour or so later Momma came and took off the offending equipment but promised me, we’d try again tomorrow and if I was a Good Girl, we would go for a walk, outside, where there are so many adventures to be had for a puppy…as long as they were leashed, harnessed, secure.
Did I sign up for this….come to think of it….did I sign anything? Still you know me, always a dreaming and a scheming…I’d figure out something I could control ….and that I did… so have faith…I tell you…I got my ways…..
