Dirty Dog

As you know, I let my guard down one day and ended up with a puppy. It is dangerous to have a moment of weakness. Although training a puppy wasn't my original plan for this spring, I find it impossible not to love a puppy. Especially this one. He has silver fur and ice blue eyes, so his appearance is pretty stunning.




But what I love most about him is that he is hilarious. He tries very hard to be exactly where I am, which has caused more than one ungraceful tripping incident. So as not to lose direct line of sight, he looks at me constantly, which leads to all sorts of clumsiness. He has been seen falling off of the deck, tripping over his huge paws and ending up in somersaults, and falling into the pool. He has fallen into the pool three times. The water is 40 degrees. He has fallen into the hot tub twice. The water is 103 degrees. I didn't mind the hot tub, but pulling him out of the pool was not enjoyable. And sometimes, he tries to eat his own paw.


He loves to be outside until he finds out he is out there alone. Then he will bark to let me know he wants in. He gives me three seconds to comply with his request before he begins throwing his body against the glass of the door. He doesn't understand glass. He thinks if he gets up enough speed he should be able to walk right through. He backs up, runs straight at the door, and slams himself violently against the annoying invisible barrier.

I left him outside for four minutes one day. In that time he managed to dig up my flower garden more thoroughly than a rototiller ever could. Then, covered with mud, he barked to be let in. I decided not to comply. It took 30 seconds of his violent thrashing to change my mind and allow the dirty dog access to our nice, clean house. This is what he did to my door in those 30 seconds. He is lucky he is so cute.