Dog days

This was our first look at our our newest canine addition, Poppy. She is a 10lb rescue dog from the Seattle Animal Shelter, and we adopted her in April. She proved to be the best match for Maverick after introductions to several dogs. She was a year old in July, and while still exhibiting puppy traits, she is learning from Maverick about how to be a gentle, sweet dog. We were told she is a chihuahua mix - we think with a terrier breed of some kind. She has that sort of terrier energy and fearlessness in place of the quivering timidity and yapping found with some chihuahuas. Don't get me wrong: she barks! As a watchdog and fierce protector, which is not what we expected from this little scamp who likes to sleep in our laps and eat raspberries off the vines.

Maverick wasn't quite sure whether he should be miffed by her arrival in April, but she didn't give up on him, moving onto his bed within the first couple of weeks (he then slept on the small bed we got for her - it was a riot), and trying to cuddle with him. The first time he rested his head on her while waiting for something, we knew she had him.

Pound for pound, Poppy may be faster than 70lb Maverick, and he's FAST. He gets down on the ground to play with her, and she chases him for all she is worth in the back yard, with some success. She hasn't yet learned to be gentle, so he cries out frequently because she's bitten him too hard. Their white markings are similar, then where he is dark and handsome, she is strawberry blonde, light eyed, and pink nosed. She squints in the bright sun and starts to doze when her head and ears are being massaged. He loves to chase the ball, rolls on us if we get down on the floor, leans on us and puts his head in our laps for affection. He still likes to get in my lap when allowed - especially since Poppy gets lap time.

She is learning a little about cuddling, but mostly likes to jump to whatever high summit she can reach to defy her diminuitive size. This includes tabletops and finishing off what's left on plates, so we still have much training to do. I caught her on the table the other night and startled her - she nearly jumped out of her skin and was off the table in a flash, so we know she knows better and just can't yet resist temptation.

Recently, we celebrated "sit" and "stay" - she's not perfect yet, but she's Maverick's little mimic so I have high hopes. I'm talking about my dogs today because of our unusual Northwest heat wave. I'm happy that they are both short-haired since our house is not air-conditioned. They do fairly well, but we still coordinated our schedules to get them some air and wet them down to keep them from overheating. Maverick still wants to go chase the ball and run around - and doesn't understand why it doesn't work very well.

Both dogs get chilled in cold weather - they are fortunate to be mixes, or they would be even less insulated. Maverick has a red & black fleece jacket (he inherited it from Cherie's beloved boxer, Beano) that is perfect for the snow - I expect to sew him another one or two. Poppy, however, is small enough that knitting for her won't be a major project, so I thought I'd give it a try. I was looking at books about knitting for dogs, and ordered three of them.

OK, three books may not have been absolutely necessary, but if I like knitting dog sweaters, I'll be prepared, right? And how often have I been known to pass up a good book? I'm thinking both dogs would look good in an aran knit. I'll let you know how it goes.