The next installment

Today was ridiculously slow, a couple surgeries, a few patients, did some gloves.

Then we adopted a big eared, 4 month old, cute as a button puppy. We named her "Sonar" for her oversized ears. And just so you all know: this was Gaurav's idea, NOT MINE. She'd been at the clinic for a while, needing a home, recovering from projectile pooping and vomiting, with her brother, "Socks." They have very little in background story except "shipped up from the South." She struck me as adorable immediatly, as did her brother. I spent more than usual time with them, walking them and petting their big big ears. So one day I casually mentioned that there was an extremely cute puppy with huge ears. Gaurav, then, in his infinite wisdom, when he was dropping off a urine sample for Kayak one day, actually, June 30th, asked to see this puppy. He then spent 45 minutes with her in an exam room, and was hooked. We talked about schedules, and making sure we had enough time for her, and whether Kayak could appreciate her, and decided to try her over 4th of July weekend. She did famously well, and so did we, with religious crate training and plenty of playing and exercise. We got her on Kayak's birthday (July 1st), much to his chagrin. He didn't like her at first, but 5 days later, he's more tolerant of her boisterous attitude, and has nearly forgiven us for our transgression of trust. He seemed so hurt the first couple of days that I was racked with guilt over her adoption, but he gradually came to understand that he was not being replaced, and has started to interact with her a very little bit. He's also come to carrying his bones in his mouth more, on walks even, partly because he's guarding them, but also partly because she has a retrieving nature and desires to put EVERYTHING in her mouth. This includes watermelons, bushes, grass, her toys, Kayak's tail, our fingers, our shorts, our shoes, chair legs, etc. And I do mean ETC. We have purchased (in the fashion of giggling children) several toys for her enjoyment, and have experienced fantastic success with simply distracting her with a toy when she goes to chew something undesirable to us-the key is to attempt to match the materials- like wood chewing: rawhide. Plastic chewing? Kong. Shorts/your hand/kayak? A stuffed animal WITH A SQUEAKER. I say WITH A SQUEAKER beacuse this describes the look on Sonar's face when you squeak the sqeaker. She looks at the toy, her eyes wide, and exclaims OH MY GOD ITS A SQUEAKER! And she promptly pounces on the toy. So far her favorite is a stuffed mallard duck toy. She fetches, too, the key is to trade out squeaky toys, making the next one SOOOOOOOO much more exciting than the one she just brought back.

So if you've never ever owned a dog, and you're considering it, let me dispense some invaluable advice: GET AN OLDER DOG. Kayak is approximately one billion times easier than Sonar is, because he has less energy, has a longer attention span, doesn't desire to taste everything, is house-trained, and we know EXACTLY how big he is. Puppies are adorable, but there is nothing cuter than a dog that knows how to pee outside. Cuter than all the fluffiest puppies in the world is a dog who doesn't jump up or chase the cats, or be a general idiot at the worst times. Dear. Lord.

On the upside, she's already learned to come, sit, and we're working on lay down. The "sit" has nearly eradicated her strong desire to jump up on us, and we're working on extending that to strangers. She is ridiculously smart, which we attribute to the shepard that is so evident in her enormous ears. The woman down the street has asked if she is a "Dingo." No, but that would have been a sweet name.

Wait, wait, Gaurav just called and "Kayak inadvertantly played with Sonar for 3 seconds." Now that is progress!