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Right? RIGHT? It's not just me, is it??
Here I am, poodling along through my February of Fun, and it clearly just wasn't enough of a challenge to stay off the OTCs with the normal levels of household craziness, so we added....
The Dougster. The 'deal' segued incrementally from his being housed for a short time Chez Schrap while Becca was looking for another place to live, to his maybe needing to stay here a good while, because Bec wasn't going to find a place large enough for him, her and his previous owner in a big hurry, to his being most likely pretty much a permanent resident here. The first day was well interesting, as Bell was desperately desiring to kill him painfully AND play tug-of-war and catch and chase with him AND get as far away from him without actually leaving the house as possible AND definitely to have her terrible trauma assuaged by eating her own body-weight in all her favourite foods. (No dry dog food. Don't be ridiculous.) (Unless he's eating some! HANG ON...!!) And he slept the first night in Bec's room, which means on her head.
The second day was interesting because I underestimated his speed and determination to escape the house he seems to like and spent a terrifying 20 minutes or so running the streets in pursuit of a dog far faster than I am. I tried both stealth and speed, but he might well be smooshed under a car or on the other side of town if not for a kind lady who helped me in a classic pincher movement...
Today he only made it past the recently-semi-incapacitated Becca (she sprained her ankle badly the other day) as she went out the door, but the gate was closed and I grabbed him before he tried jumping over. Bell is fine, except for transitional times of day - rather like difficult toddlers, in fact. He's incredibly affectionate and all our favourite people are kind of mad anyway, so he should fit in just perfectly. The bedtime ritual has become a bit exhausting, as it's no longer giving one Bonio, opening the front door to let Bell outside to come in when she's ready and pouring some dog food in for her to eat when she feels like it. Now it's giving carefully titrated doses of mini-Bonios or equivalent so they'll be finished at the same time, holding Doug firmly by the collar, letting Bell out front, letting Doug out back (walls are too high even for the little spring-loaded critter to get over), encouraging him to go back out after his first frenzy of barking and mere ritual leg-lifting, letting him in and drying his paws if necessary, holding him firmly while checking if Bell is ready to come in, repeating last three or four times (I think she relishes the time away from him), getting an appropriate amount of dog food in his bowl in the kitchen, same in her bowl in the dining room, making him eat his and not hers, reminding her she's not too scared of him to eat her own damn food, and finally staggering up to bed.
Yesterday, by strange coincidence, I got a wonderful gift parcel, which included another little guy, whose face is oddly like Doug's, I think! ( See what you think )
Books? Yeah, just about remember what they are... (At least it must be said that Doug hasn't eaten any, in the settling-in period. The same can't be said of Bell, who chewed up a few in her early days here, including, appropriately enough, Dogsbody. )
Here I am, poodling along through my February of Fun, and it clearly just wasn't enough of a challenge to stay off the OTCs with the normal levels of household craziness, so we added....
The Dougster. The 'deal' segued incrementally from his being housed for a short time Chez Schrap while Becca was looking for another place to live, to his maybe needing to stay here a good while, because Bec wasn't going to find a place large enough for him, her and his previous owner in a big hurry, to his being most likely pretty much a permanent resident here. The first day was well interesting, as Bell was desperately desiring to kill him painfully AND play tug-of-war and catch and chase with him AND get as far away from him without actually leaving the house as possible AND definitely to have her terrible trauma assuaged by eating her own body-weight in all her favourite foods. (No dry dog food. Don't be ridiculous.) (Unless he's eating some! HANG ON...!!) And he slept the first night in Bec's room, which means on her head.
The second day was interesting because I underestimated his speed and determination to escape the house he seems to like and spent a terrifying 20 minutes or so running the streets in pursuit of a dog far faster than I am. I tried both stealth and speed, but he might well be smooshed under a car or on the other side of town if not for a kind lady who helped me in a classic pincher movement...
Today he only made it past the recently-semi-incapacitated Becca (she sprained her ankle badly the other day) as she went out the door, but the gate was closed and I grabbed him before he tried jumping over. Bell is fine, except for transitional times of day - rather like difficult toddlers, in fact. He's incredibly affectionate and all our favourite people are kind of mad anyway, so he should fit in just perfectly. The bedtime ritual has become a bit exhausting, as it's no longer giving one Bonio, opening the front door to let Bell outside to come in when she's ready and pouring some dog food in for her to eat when she feels like it. Now it's giving carefully titrated doses of mini-Bonios or equivalent so they'll be finished at the same time, holding Doug firmly by the collar, letting Bell out front, letting Doug out back (walls are too high even for the little spring-loaded critter to get over), encouraging him to go back out after his first frenzy of barking and mere ritual leg-lifting, letting him in and drying his paws if necessary, holding him firmly while checking if Bell is ready to come in, repeating last three or four times (I think she relishes the time away from him), getting an appropriate amount of dog food in his bowl in the kitchen, same in her bowl in the dining room, making him eat his and not hers, reminding her she's not too scared of him to eat her own damn food, and finally staggering up to bed.
Yesterday, by strange coincidence, I got a wonderful gift parcel, which included another little guy, whose face is oddly like Doug's, I think! ( See what you think )
Books? Yeah, just about remember what they are... (At least it must be said that Doug hasn't eaten any, in the settling-in period. The same can't be said of Bell, who chewed up a few in her early days here, including, appropriately enough, Dogsbody. )
