The Little Jester
My current puppy, pictured on my website thecyclistbook.com, is a one-year-old female German Shepherd. I’ve been trying to make the distinction between a furry baby and a therapy dog in my head. This one is a beautiful mess. My last shepherd was dainty but this one, as my sister said, is a truck driver. She’s brash, she’s bold, and she loves to bark and be obnoxious. But, when the time comes and I really need her, she cuddles up and helps me through the next while. She’s seen the worst happen a number of times, full-blown mixed mania. She’s quite sassy. When we’re playing, she often snaps her teeth in a show of gusto while we play, taunting me and making me laugh. When she drinks, I think more gets on the floor than in her belly. Luckily, she stopped turning over the bowl at six months when I put her bowls in a tray. If anyone ever tells you having a puppy is great, they’re lying. You endure the first three to four months while you potty train, and then it’s cleaning up chewed things like books and tables. Luckily, she hasn’t had any real medical problems since seven weeks. But one thing that always makes me laugh is her attention-getting mechanism. If she thinks you are bored, she will wildly chase her tail with her eyes focused solely on you. One turn and stare, another and stare, and a few snaps of the teeth and she is playing the Jester. She’s my best friend and companion. She definitely is a furry baby and a therapy dog in one. We are still working on a lot of behaviors, but she is very, very, very bright and with a treat, she’ll do just about anything. It seems impossible for me to live without a dog, and I wouldn’t want to live without this one or any of my previous babies. More on the puppies at a later time. She’s asleep and will wake up and want to play in a few hours. To a dog, life is about playing, they’re always trying to get to the play session. Not a bad way to look at life. Until later…