My little girl is growing up…
I wish I could tell you this “little” puppy was a snuggly bundle of pillow-y white goodness, but over the past few months, she has grown into a stinky old dog that licks herself, eats poop and doesn’t really have an off switch. So long little girl, hello ghost dog.
This past month I have began calling her Ghost Dog, simply because of her coat and her streaky appearance the majority of the time when you want to take her picture. All you see is this blur of white run past your viewfinder and then again, then again… then you eventually put the camera down in disbelief and give up. She will sleep eventually, then we will get a nice picture of her.
Seldom is the case though.
She also has the nickname of “the lion”, because you can catch her laying (similar to a lion) in the middle of the backyard regal, loyal… broad shouldered… basking in the sun – head up and full of pride. Dare anyone to step foot in her domain.
Recently when a friend of ours came over, he walked out the backdoor to Izzy barking and at a full sprint straight at him. He took one step out and one step back in and shut the door.
“GET YOUR DOG DUDE!”
It is a good feeling really, since after a few moments and her realizing that all was ok – she went back to normal. But for that split second her domain was breached and someone was going to lose an eye. Or at least scream and run off. I know it makes Shala happy to know that two dogs could keep some folks away that could mean us harm. At least when I am out of town. Just don’t tell anyone that one of them is shaped like a hot dog and about as friendly as one as well.
As for the big dawg (that is what we call Mikey, he has a complex) – he is showing his age more and more. Even though he is only 5 or so… this past year and with Izzy showing up seems to have mellowed him out considerably. We worried about him at first, because she was so 100MPH and he couldn’t help but try and keep up… but he damn sure did.
The sad part was the fact that Izzy spent most of her time trying to feel things out so she had no clue of how hard she was biting him and when she was closer to his size she did a number on Mikey’s neck & ears. I mean he would have scabs galore (I know that is gross to hear) – but still… he couldn’t turn down a fight.
That eventually went away, and now they will play and neither gets hurt or even yelps for that matter. An hour and a half of teeth showing and high pitched growls eventually ends with Mikey jumping up on the couch to snuggle with Shala under the blanket. Izzy then finally gives in to the sleep monster and all is well in our world.
Mikey is funny though. Something we both have noticed lately is his lack of urgency for everything. You can say…
“You want to go outside?!?”
Used to he would hit the ground running and BAM! he was out the door running. Now after about a minute of calling him specifically, he will ease off the couch then walk to the backdoor. He just isn’t all that into it. I’m sure deep down he is thinking…
“Is ghost dog going to be out there?”
Yup. You bet your Oscar Myer ass she is.
Same with everything else. Eating isn’t all that great. Coming inside also has lost its cool. Everything is just ho hum at best. I laughed last night when we were waiting for him to trot his happy butt into the house and I told Shala.
“I’m sure Mikey is thinking, in the last 5 years they have yet to leave me behind… I doubt they are going to start now.”
He is right too. We always spend a little extra time & effort with him. Izzy would have long been left. It is a bit harder to be patient with that big ox of a dog. She is such a goofball at times and so you never know if she really doesn’t want to go outside/eat/play/pee/inside or if she just isn’t understanding/listening/paying attention or whatever.
It is hard to think that she was once this…
and is now this…
but it is true. Lord is it true. I guess Mikey did the same thing though. Just the transition from this…
to this…
wasn’t as drastic.
The one thing that rings true though, is the fact that even though they have grown up – they are great friends. We worried about them for a while – didn’t know if they were going to be friendly or not. Then one day it just clicked for them. I think we caught that very day on camera, and it seems a long time ago now. We were glad that they both came around though.
