New Fans

This dog is amazing. Because of Shadow, I now have new readers of my blog. My father-in-law is one of them! People are so anxious to see what this pooch looks like that Neal has been giving out my blog address, which he knows by heart now, so that people can see the him. AND they are reading it! Now I wonder how interested they are in my knittng?

I Can Knit Again!

Here's proof! I can knit with the dog next to me. All it took was a few stern "No's" and I think Shadow got the message. I'm not letting my guard down completely. But I'm knitting! Yeah!

I Think I Miss the Fish!

It's been one week and 4 days since Shadow has entered our family's life. I haven't knitted because he took one look at my project and went for it. I have to knit in my bedroom or during Elijah's piano lesson or while waiting for an appointment. My cyberfriends on KnitTalk have given some good suggestions about how to train Shadow to sit with me while I knit and NOT eat it. I'm going to try the good old "No" and use negative reinforcement. Then it was suggested that I squirt him with water. Wish me luck. I really miss knitting. It's affecting me. Even Ben has noticed. He knows I get cranky without my knitting. (Actually, how could he tell the difference? Ha Ha!)

After spending a lovely afternoon shopping with Ben which really translates that we are opposite sides of the store, we had to go to PetSmart to buy Shadow some stuff. We felt he needed his own stuffed animal. There was a package of 3 loofah dogs which looked cute. It seems that all these toys have a squeaker in them so Ben tested them to find the one with the quietest squeaker. Then we bought him some treats and another flosser which he seems to like and makes his breath minty fresh. When the total appeared on the register, I looked at Ben and said that I missed the fish. Ben said it was so "bad ass" to buy dog stuff instead of a container of fish food. Wow! I'm bad ass! (Little does he know of my life before kids!)

We got home and gave Shadow one of his stuffed animals. We cut off the tags to make sure the puppy wouldn't choke on it. In less than 30 minutes the dog got the stuffing out of this poor yellow loofah dog. I had to take it away from him. Elijah said that this face was so sad! I gave him the stringy flosser. He seemed happy enough.

Tiger, wherever you are, you are missed!

Heeeere's Shadow!

So here's the dog. I've never had a dog before. My husband grew up with a Sheltie. Elijah and I are allergic but I've been symptom free since I was dating a guy years ago who had 3 terriers. Neal and I did have 7 ferrets so that puts us on the exotic animal list. My friends' reactions? One called me an asshole and another asked if I was drugged. Hmmm, what do you think they really mean by that?

This dog is very, very sweet. Neal picked him up from the family and met Elijah and me at PetSmart. Ben and a friend were at a basketball tournament. The dog smelled of vomit. He threw up on himself in the morning and I guess his previous owner didn't do such a great job of cleaning him up. Good thing the groomer allowed him to come in earlier. Then the three humans spent a good hour and a good amount of money getting a collar, a leash, food, treats, poop bags, an ID tag, etc. We took Elijah to grab something to eat because he had to be at his basketball game at 7:40. He couldn't wait to get back to the store to see the dog. And there he was! He looked so pretty!

Now the problem was who was going to take the dog home and who was going to the game. Of course Elijah wanted Neal to be at the game so guess who took him home? Yup, me. I was a little tense but I figured I took two babies home from the hospital that a dog has to be a lot easier. He laid on the seat behind me and when we pulled into the driveway, he perked up a bit. I immediately took him for a walk to make sure there wouldn't be any accidents in the house. He seemed to enjoy himself but he doesn't lift his leg. What could that mean? I'll have to google that one. Then I took him and the packages into the house and hoped for the best. I gave him a bit of food and water and one of his new toys. He seemed pretty happy. He went around sniffing every nook and cranny and then settled down in the den with me.

Elijah came home and couldn't wait to hang with Shadow. The dog's tail wagged when he saw him walk in. However, every time I passed by, the dog would follow me; it was as if he patterned himself onto me the way a duckling does to the mother duck. About an hour later Elijah and I walked him and then Ben and his friend took him out around 11:00. I was so ready to sleep. The boys came back and he put Shadow in his crate. We said goodnight to him and I think I crawled into bed and fell fast asleep. We didn't hear a peep out of him. In fact, I haven't heard him bark at all.

This morning Neal took Elijah to Hebrew school. First he took Shadow for a walk. Then about an hour later I took him. We had a very long walk. This dog has gotten me out to walk 3 times in about 18 hours! Amazing. My cardiologist will be pleased. I sat down to pay bills at the computer and Shadow put his paws on my lap. I picked him up and he snuggled against my head. I guess he was having some anxiety. I could understand that. What we discovered is that this dog loves socks...just like the ferrets! So we have to make sure the laundry gets put away and Elijah, especially, puts his socks away since he takes them off all over the house.

When Neal got home I told him that I'm ready for the dog to go home now. Whoops! I forgot. He's ours.

Stay tuned for more Shadow adventures. Tomorrow will be the true test of how he does when we all go to work and school!