Bark Mitzvah

I watched Bella and Buttercup playing this evening. They do this a lot--Buttercup on her back, paws in the air, Bella taking one of her paws--or her head--in her big mouth and dragging her around. Bella could easily snap that puppy's head off, so it's really beautiful to watch her being so gentle with Buttercup.

Later the two dogs went outside. Buttercup has been going outside more and more these days, but when she gets too far, Bella just calmly walks out the door and pretty soon the puppy comes scampering back in again.

I thought I should take some pictures (but my camera seems to always be in the wrong place, and if I get up to get it, the dogs stop playing), because tomorrow is Buttercup's "bark mitzvah." Tomorrow she becomes a dog. I am trading Bella for Shiloh and Buttercup will have to learn how to be a big girl, not a mommy's girl.

The weaning of Buttercup is important for both her and for her mother. There have been several calls about Bella already and one family drove halfway down the state to check her out, before she was ready to be adopted, so it's time for Bella to have her own family and within a week or two or three, Buttercup will be old enough to go up for adoption as well.

It's funny about chemistry. There is dog chemistry just like there is people chemistry.

Bella is a lovely dog. She's well behaved, housebroken, funny, enthusiastic and loving. I've had a lot of foster dogs who are not all of those things. Yet...I don't know...there's just no chemistry between us. She gets into my lap and she snuggles into my arm pit just like dozens of dogs before her, some smaller, some bigger (Lester used to do that and she's a horse!) and I just feel blah about her. Which is another good reason why it will be good toget her into a forever home soon. She deserves someone who loves her the way I've loved lots of other dogs around here.

I love most of the dogs who stay with us. Some hurt more than others when they leave. Some, like Polly, are real pains in the butt and I still feel that chemistry between us. And then there are others, many of whom are as lovely dogs as Bella, and I feed them and pet them and play with them, but they never enter my heart.

The chemistry works between dogs too. I've had foster dogs I've had to ask to be removed because either they hated our dogs or our dogs hated them. Most of the dogs are able to live side by side with our dogs, ignoring each other. And then there are those who really become good friends with our dogs.

It's why I'm taking Shiloh back. Shiloh fit in here very well. He and Polly became great friends and Lizzie liked him too. I had to ask Ashley to move him because with his broken leg, he was supposed to be kept quiet and wasn't supposed to run around with other dogs and he desperately wanted to run around.

At Ashley's house, he didn't have a dog to run around with and since she was gone to work all day, it didn't bother her to have him cry in the cage when she locked him up. I knew it was for his best health and that it was doctor's orders, but I couldn't bear to hear him cry, so he spent all of his time either in the cage or in my lap. I watched a lot of TV while Shiloh was here!

But he's doing better now and Ashley says he needs to have little dogs to play with. He and Polly became great friends, in a way that Polly and Bella have not (they play together, but she really doesn't like having her around). So it will be nice to have Shiloh back, without his big plastic collar, and without having to lock him up all day long, and not having to let him out into the back yard only on a leash.

Of course there are trade offs. I've learned things about being a doggie mom that I never knew before. Apparently in the wild a mother dog eats the feces of her babies and laps up their urine to prevent wild animals from knowing there are babies about.

In all the years I've been raising puppies, it's safe to say that I've never eaten feces or licked up urine. It's also been nice that there have been no messes of Buttercup's to clean up. They just magically disappear.

With Bella gone, I'm going to be back on puppy poop duty again. But the good thing is that, thank GOD Polly seems to be going outside to do her business again.

Hmmm...either that or Bella's been cleaning up after her too. I guess I'll know more about that after Bella leaves!