It’s your first “gotcha day,” girly, and I’m honestly not sure where the year has gone.
Or, actually, I think it passed in an absolute blur because you did not for one second slow down, stop, rest, chill, or relax. Not once. (Until last week but more on that in a minute!) You have kept me on my toes, sprinting from room to room, chasing you all around, pulling things out of your mouth, sweeping up destruction, and… well… okay, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s back up a year, shall we, my dear?
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Before we met you, Stola, Penny was in need of a dog friend. She play bowed to the cats and the kids. She bopped them with her nose. She tried so very hard to get them to play with her that, one morning after she knocked over Astrid trying to get her to skitter, John and I decided that Penny needed a dog.
Around that time, Fort Wayne Pit Bull Coalition got in a couple deaf puppies, and the rest is history. We drove up to Fort Wayne to meet you, and we are so, so lucky we did.
You and Penny instantly hit it off. We drove home with you that same day.
From that very first day, you two became inseparable. Look how small you were!
Although, turns out, neither Penny nor I had any clue the magnitude or scope of your energy. Penny is happy to zoomie with you in the yard once a day and maybe wrestle-mania in the living room every day or two, but that’s Penny’s limit.
Your limit?
Does not seem to exist.
In the course of one day, you will: go for a walk, do a food puzzle, play a sniffing or tugging game, train, zoom with Penny, shred some cardboard boxes, demolish a bully stick, and still look at me like, “What’s my next activity?”
And, unfortunately, you’ve found many, many ways to entertain yourself.
(Quick aside, Stola, to mention that you are probably the smartest dog we’ve ever had, and second only to Emmett in stubbornness.)
Your favorite activity is body-slamming open the bathroom door, grabbing the roll of toilet paper, and absconding with it as fast as your stubby legs will carry you. You do this somewhere between two and 10 times per day.
Your second favorite activity is to steal Violet’s glasses. This is not good, Stola. Not good at all. (To be fair, Violet is quite absentminded and doesn’t always make it difficult for Stola, so I blame them both equally for my becoming a Platinum Status Shopper at Zenni.)
This seems like a good place to tally up a list of some of the things you’ve destroyed in the last year, just for the sake of posterity. We’ll laugh about it someday. I think.
- 2 seatbelts
- 1 entire couch
- arms off of two other chairs
- half a dozen pairs of Violet’s glasses
- a Charmin manufacturing facility’s worth of toilet paper
- 6 dog beds
- 2 comforters
- every single sheet in the house (this is you and Penny… Penny from digging to hide her bones, and you for seeing the tiny tears she makes in the sheets and going to town ripping them up)
- 1 Cry Babies doll (Astrid will never forgive you for this one)
- 1 Baby Alive swimming doll
- 1 snowman Christmas decoration
- 2 watering cans
I could go on, but my stress level is rising just thinking through all of this. And, I know what you’re probably thinking, Stola, “Why don’t you keep a closer eye on me?”
Well, we try our best, and to be honest, you will happily do these things right in front of us anyway!
We have a lot of management in place. You’re prohibited from going upstairs where the girls’ rooms and toys live. We supervise you, but, for example, one night a week or so ago, Astrid and I were in the living room playing a game. You were on the arm chair chewing on a dog toy. I stood up, walked into the kitchen to preheat the oven to start dinner, and I hear rrrrrriiiiiiipppppp.
In the 30 seconds I was away.
This is a lot to say: You are smart, you are high energy, you are a troublemaker, you love mischief, and you can create chaos in the span of a sneeze.
And. Also.
You are cuddly. You are silly. You are playful.
We’ve started taking you to a fabulous doggy daycare one day a week, and it’s been wonderful for you. You love it SO much. You’re wagging before you even get out of the car! And then, the next day, you nap in the morning! SO, that’s nice!
Whenever Violet is sick (which is often) or frightened (also often), you swoop in. Knowing.
You adore small, high-energy kiddos and even when they’re not playing with you, I can see you watching over them.
You follow me absolutely everywhere. I’m constantly tripping over you. In fact, if you’re not by my side, a red alarm starts sounding in my brain that I need to find you ASAP because you’re up to something.
We’ve done training classes together; we need to do more.
We’re experimenting with a ton of enrichment; we need to do more.
We’re walking in the woods and the park and the neighborhood; we need to do more. (Actually, dear readers, does anyone have experience with SniffSpot?)
You still do a lot of nipping. We have to get this under control. (Anyone have any tips?? Seriously stumped.) And you have some apprehensions and hesitations about most handling/grooming, but you also have a host of strange scars across your body (even the vet was like…ummm…???), so we’re patient and slow and are finding some workarounds. (Side note: I highly recommend this for anyone whose dogs aren’t comfy with nail clipping!)
But. You are a delight. You are a joy and a precious little tank. Or house hippo. You are funny and silly. You bring so much laughter to our house, and I feel confident that one day–in the hopefully not too distant future–you’ll grow a little more self-control and restraint.
Until then, I’ve absolutely taken to wearing my running shoes all day every day so I’m prepared for whatever you throw at me.
We love you, you wild child. I’m so glad you’re you. But feel free to destroy a smidge less stuff in the new year, m’kay?
