Lap Full of Puppies

First of all...happy journalversary to me! Today is the 8th anniversary of the date Ned moved into a playhouse and I started writing this journal. Time flies when you're having fun. So many adventures, so many puppies.

...and now two more.

Jack had a great night. He slept in the cage and was quiet all night, after some initial protesting. We all slept well. The problem with Jack is that he desperately wants my lap. He'll sit in Walt's lap...

...but he really wants to be in my lap. The way to get him to go out and play with the other dogs is for me to get on the treadmill. Yesterday he hopped on with me and slid right off the back of it, so he stays away whenever I'm on the treadmill...and actually goes out the back door.

But when I tried to do any work, he was trying to leap into my lap. Try getting anything done like this.

I eventually just sat with him in my lap for too much of the afternoon.

But at 4:30, it was his time to go the Farmers Market. His brother, Russell, had come back from the vet (in addition to being neutered, he also had a hernia operation) and was there waiting for us when we got there.

You would have thought they had been separated for years, rather than two days. The two of them leaped at each other and kept chasing each other around the pen. Jack was so happy!

I left him there for a couple of hours and went home to get some work done. We brought both of them home and Russell was definitely not the dog he had been in the pen. They had told me that he did some "anxiety biting." I left him in the car while I took Jack inside and then returned to get Russell. I put him into the cage, but left the cage door open so he could come and go as he pleased.

As it turned out, he didn't "please" all evening. He and Jack had huge dinners (Jack had eaten hardly anything so far) and then while Jack ran in and out bringing Russell toys, Russell was content to just lie on the pillow and sleep.

Now, in fairness, he had just been through two surgeries. I'm sure anybody would be a little withdrawn if their balls were cut off one day and their abdomen opened up the next.

But when Walt and I sat down to dinner, suddenly there was lots of activity in the other part of the room. Since Sheila and Lizzie were at their usual places, begging for food, the noise came from the puppies and as we ate, they chased each other around the family room.

I hoped that they would continue to play together so I could put the finishing touches on the article I was writing, but no. As soon as I went into the office, Jack was in here begging to get into my lap.

Russell followed him, but did not want to be touched, so I just waited him out. He finally sat by my feet and didn't pull away when I petted him, so I picked him up and took him in to the recliner. Ashley had said that he needed lots of love and I figured it was time to start.

Naturally Jack wouldn't be left out, so I sat there through American Idol and Top Chef buried under puppies. I eventually tried to extricate myself and come in to the office to work, but Jack was right here, barking and barking and begging to come up again. I finally decided that it was BEDTIME for puppies, so I locked them in the cage for the night, let Sheila and Lizzie into the living room and finished my article and, now, this journal entry.

It's a challenge having two such active puppies here. Ashley and I agreed that we loved having them around as puppies, but neither of us is interested in living permanently with a Jack Russell terrier, let alone two of them.