As the Puppy Grows

I’m learning a lot about life from JoLee. I’m sure many of these same lessons I learned from Star (what, is it already 5 years ago?), but I’m a firm believer in refresher courses, and nothing refreshes like a crash course in puppy-raising.

One thing I’m re-learning is the importance of now.

As I’m typing this, JoLee is playing with his squeaky alligator and looking soulfully at me. It’s easy to anthropomorphize his look into something along the lines of “Mommy, why are you looking at that inanimate hunk of plastic when you could be petting me and laughing at my antics?"

But I know he’s just trying to stay awake. Trying as hard as any two-year old human who’s had a big day of fun. Every day’s a big day of fun for a three-and-a-half month old puppy. (Since then, I helped JoLee get up on the waterbed with Star and Tim and they’re all three snoring - makes me sleepy just listening to them).



One of his many recent accomplishments was learning to use the dog-door. He would paw at it, and it would come back and slap him in the face. It took some time, but he eventually figured it out. That was a big day!



Today I thought of that old rhyme:

Cleaning and cooking can wait 'till tomorrow
For babies grow up, as we've learned to our sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep,
I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep.

It would be so easy to rewrite that little ditty. Mine would go something like this:

Cleaning and mowing can wait ‘til tomorrow
For puppies grow up, as we’ve learned to our sorrow.
So, projects and deadlines will just have to wait
I’m playing with JoLee and puppies don’t keep.

Yeah, I know it doesn’t all rhyme, but that’s okay.







I'm rediscovering favorite hikes that, for some reason, I haven't gone on in a long time. This past weekend, we went to Wilderness Park.




After we were done hiking, we watched as a man unloaded a horse from a horse trailer. The dogs thought that was fascinating. Almost as riveting as chicken jerky.







I’m also learning a lot about Midnight Star, my LabraPit. What a saint she has been throughout all of this, and what a love. The other day, I attempted to introduce Star to a two year old male boxer some of my best friends adopted. His name is Tank. He’s a typical boxer, full of energy and bouncy - in short, exactly the kind of dog Star would never normally tolerate. Still, I hoped for the best, since Star has become somewhat calloused to puppy antics since JoLee came home last month. The introduction didn’t go badly, but there is definitely some tension there. I found JoLee’s response to Tank quite interesting. Tank bounced up to JoLee, and JoLee let out this little bunny-like scream of terror, meant, I’m sure to make Tank back off, which is exactly what he did. But the most interesting part of that introduction was Star’s reaction to JoLee’s little scream. She cocked her head and rushed toward Tank, as if to say, “What are you doing to my puppy??”



Now, I could easily believe I had imagined that, if it weren’t for this evening. Somehow, I ended up in the back yard alone with Star, and thought I’d take that opportunity to play with her. I held up one of the toys that she and JoLee love to play tug of war with - a stuffed armadillo with a bungee tail and two squeakers. I squeaked the tail, and Star’s ears perked up. I waved it around, and she looked at me, and reached for it. But all the while, she was keeping one eye on the house, looking for JoLee, her play buddy. I think maybe it just isn’t as much fun to play with me any more. Not when you have a puppy to play with.



Jo plays a little too rough with Tim for my taste. A month ago, JoLee was about an inch shorter than Tim, but right now, it’s hard to tell them apart from behind. Tim’s about ten years old now and his kidneys are failing, a legacy from a bout of leptospirosis when he was around two years old. So, Tim is slowing down. Arthritis is creeping in, too, adding to the mix. He’s just not as steady on his pins as he used to be. JoLee has knocked him clean off his feet and rolled him more than once. I intervene when it seems like Tim needs me to, but I’ve caught Tim using his Superior Terrier Intellect to get JoLee in trouble. Here’s an example: tonight, I popped JoLee one for roughhousing with Tim after he ignored me when I told him to leave Tim alone. Later in the evening, I heard more roughhousing going on in the living room, but decided to just ignore it while I did the dishes. The rumble of feet came into the kitchen, and I looked down to see Tim, with the aforementioned armadillo clasped firmly in his mouth, JoLee right on his tail! An attempt to get JoLee in trouble, or just playing? I won’t ever really know, but the sparkle in Tim’s eye and wag in his tail tell me he’s not suffering from JoLee’s attentions too much.




These photos were taken over the past two weeks. You can see how JoLee is growing. I noticed today that white hairs are appearing throughout his butterscotch coat, creating a kind of roan effect. He’s also developing some white spots on his tail. I can hardly wait to see what he’s going to look like when he grows up - but I hope he doesn’t grow up too quickly. These are going to be some of the best days of my life!