Anyone who thinks that your life doesn’t change when you get a dog has obviously never had one before…or at least not a puppy. It is not even 9 am and we have had more antics and human interaction this morning than we usually have in an entire day or even weekend.
Ayla had her first real face to face experience with Mary…well maybe I should say paw to face. Marilyn has now decided that there is absolutely no reason to be intimidated by this black ball of fluff, even if Ayla is twice her size. So Mary was sitting in “her” chair in the living room and Ayla approached her, sniffing and in general letting her curiosity get the best of her. Marilyn put on her best defensive stance and when Ayla was in striking distance, she slammed her on the nose. Of course she has no claws so this did no damage to the dog physically, but mentally? Well she definitely backs off more quickly now when Mary starts growling so I have to say that Mary is claiming her dominance over Ayla quite well. At the moment she really wants nothing to do with the dog but I think both cats will eventually accept Ayla as one of the family and since she barely goes after them now when/if she sees them, we should have her trained to almost ignore them in no time and soon they should all feel comfortable hanging out in the same room.
While out in the yard with Ayla, we met another 5 people and their dogs from the neighborhood. It is pretty amazing the number of people who stop and talk to us and/or the dog. I guess that puppy radar just starts going off and they can’t help but coo at her and make a fuss.
So our most entertaining moment of the morning was during a FRAP time. Ayla was on her retractable leash because we’ve found that she can still wander over to her water bowl if we’re sitting on the couch but she can’t make it upstairs so it’s really the perfect leash length. So she was laying in one of her usual evening spots by her water bowl when Mary came strolling down the stairs. She strutted across the dining room and into the living room and Ayla apparently couldn’t resist the urge to chase her so she jumped up and started across the floor, dragging her standing water dish with her. Everything was fine until she hit the carpeted part of the room and then the bowl tipped and spilled water everywhere. We were actually a bit surprised that Ayla didn’t try to lay in the water but she did want to “help” clean up some of the excess. All we could think was “Thank God it’s only water” and we definitely got a good laugh out of it. Now if only we had video cameras set up everywhere and running at all times so we could have shared this little interaction. Ayla didn’t catch the cat, by the way…she didn’t even come close. But I know Mary and Princess must have gotten a good laugh out of it themselves.
Anyway, we’re heading off soon to Munich. We’re leaving Ayla with the breeders who we hope aren’t feeling too burdened by it. But then again they love the puppies so much (and why not since they’ve gotten to spend so much time with them already) that they might actually enjoy having her around a bit. Where there’s room for 2 puppies, there’s room for 3…and at least Josie is there to keep an eye on them.
Have a great weekend
