An Unexpected Surprise

I like dogs. But I have been quite hesitant to get one since we live in town and have a relatively small yard compared to the one of my childhood. That and, well, dogs mean work. Picking up after, feeding, keeping the house clean, and I could go on. The children assured us that they would gladly take care of the dog, that they would pick up after its business and walk it, and make sure it did not starve to death. I was not convinced. And I had trouble seeing myself as a small dog person, which is the only way we'd go if we got a dog while living here. And dogs can be expensive, especially if there are veterinary bills and purchase prices and food and accessories and... Nevertheless, everyone's Christmas list last year included a Santa's Little Helper wrapped in fur.

Faith's cousin Diana and Jordan and their kids have three furry friends. Our kids have been enamored with their dogs since they met them at their house and other family functions. Willy has been a steady standby that we were never concerned about ever harming our children. In fact, he was excellent at ignoring them when they mauled him. And then there was Tippy whom I had never met, but our children would waffle back and forth over which of the two they liked more. Well, Jordan and Diana are planning a move to another community. The catch is that they can only bring two dogs with them.  They knew of our children's longings and made us an offer we couldn't refuse. 

One dog. Free. With shots. Fixed. And we would get to choose between the two our kids liked already. 

It took me a month to cave. Today we have a dog. And we love her to bits. 

Tippy is our chihuahua. Dog experts say that they are supposed to be vocal, tempermental, bursting with energy and fear almost nothing. Well, Tippy acts as much like a cat as a dog. She has her dog moments where she is super excited when we come home or let her out of her kennel, likes going for long walks anywhere, and craves attention. But she is not yippy or annoying. But she would rather cuddle than play, most often with Faith or myself. Which is what she's doing right now. I think it's because she misses her home. But it could be that she's more cat-like than she likes to admit. She's so tiny. And furry. And afraid of a lot of things. With mini spurts of energy. So no, not your typical chihuahua. 

She also puts up with the antics of our kids generally as they haul her around like a rag doll - we're working on this - and corner her and tackle her so they can hold her. We have trouble when all three try to call Tippy to sit with them. She gets confused, they get upset with her and each other, and then they don't like it when their sibling is holding the dog after all of that and will attempt to snag her from one another's laps. She will occasionally give a growl to let them know her displeasure, but she has been very kind to all of them for the most part. I think she likes Aslynn the least.

And after making a few 'mistakes' in the house, she has learned to use a specific location in the back yard. We're going to try to get her to move her location if possible, but it is at least out of the way and not in the way of traffic. And she is not going to eat us out of house and home. Yay! I think we wear her out, too. She's sleeping next to me, twitching occasionally on her back. If she were a fish, I'd take that as a bad sign. But with a dog, it just means she's dreaming of chasing something. My goodness.