Monday, February 20, 2012

It's a Dog Eat Dog World

Casey behind her favorite curtain.
I know it doesn't have much to do with quilting, but today I thought I would share a few of the things I've learned about puppies in the 2 months since Casey came to live with us:

1.  A puppy can be trained to ring a bell to ask to go outside, but apparently it's too much to ask her to wipe her feet when she comes back in.

2.  Puppies love to lick bare toes, naked knees, and, surprisingly, orthodontia.

3.  It's hard, but you can still use your sewing machine's foot pedal with a puppy lying on your foot.

4.  If you have a fluffy dog, it's possible to lose straight pins in her fur.

5.  "Dogging your heels" is a real phenomenon (and on that note, it really is better to let sleeping dogs lie).

6.  Puppies' feet smell like Tostitos corn chips -- at least Casey's do and no, it was not me who discovered this, it was my husband.

7.  Puppies are happy to see you every morning even when you have bed head, are wearing your 10-year-old bathrobe and no make-up, and have morning breath. 

8.  In the course of a single day, a puppy will attempt to eat:  socks, hats, underwear (with no one in them thankfully), sneakers, water bottles, water bowls, area rugs, remote controls, cardboard boxes, laptop power cords, bark mulch, gravel, toilet paper, and, to my horror, fabric.

9.  The half-life of dog poop is much longer than I expected.

10.  Puppies make your family smile more.

I'm sure I've got a lot more to learn from Casey, not the least of which is patience.  But for now, I've learned that despite my initial reservations, despite the time and effort it takes to care for a puppy, and despite the days that she makes me want to run screaming from the house, it's actually pretty nice to have a dog around. 

And there's the bell AGAIN...

Bliss.