Did you think there wouldn’t be more puppy photos

Then you were being ridiculous. Obviously there will be a neverending, nonstop stream of photos because PUPPY.

Oy went to the vet yesterday. He weighs 16lbs (12lbs is leg bone). He is overall in really good shape, but he has fractured the tips of both his baby canines having EPIC ALL ENCOMPASSING MELTDOWNS in his baby pen. He shrieks, howls, tries to jump out, tries to climb out, tries to chew through the bars with his itty bitty needle teeth, moves the pen around, hangs from the leash that is tied across the top so that he can’t push the pen into a squeeze chute, and just generally cannot self soothe. The second there is any barrier between me and him, he loses his ish.

This is very stressful for both of us. This morning, the second the last bite of breakfast disappeared down his gullet, he started shrieking and flailing, and I stood five feet away from him at the kitchen counter and cried. He’s made me cry three times in five days.

BUT today I had to run errands between snow showers, while the roads were still bare, so I stuffed a chicken neck into a Kong, popped him in his pen and left. As soon as he heard me open the door to leave he struggled with a very real conflict between losing his mind and eating his chicken neck, and thankfully the allure of the chewie swayed him in its favour and I managed to sneak out. I checked the camera obsessively whilst driving (so he will probably kill me in another way too) and he freaked out for maybe 10 minutes off and on, then gave up and went to sleep. So I am hoping we are looking at possibly turning a corner maybe in the nearish future.

Last night I didn’t let him out after dinner and let him cry it out for a while, and tried giving him cookies every time he was quiet for 10 seconds, and at the end of it there was a pile of uneaten cookies between his feet. I don’t know if he just wasn’t hungry anymore because he just had dinner, or if he genuinely cannot eat whilst going insane. This morning though, after he started crying and I started crying, he settled down for 5 whole minutes and then I let him out. And when I got home from running errands today, he let me go into the kitchen and put my stuff down and take off my coat without screaming, so I calmly let him out and took him out for a pee. So I’m really hoping he learns to settle.

He is a very very herdy little beast, already!

I remember Dexter being very full of watchful eye and constantly watching what was going on, but I don’t remember him being all single-mindedly crouchy about everything. He is forever creeping around after another dog and trying to cut them off at right angles. He also likes to bite my pants in the front if he thinks I am going in a direction that he is not prepared for me to go.

If I can find somewhere to take him, I may end up doing some herding with him, because it is, after all, what he was bred to do.

When he is not making me cry, I quite like him. He has had a couple of scuffles with Neato, which I don’t like – Neato doesn’t like it when Oy stares at him, and Oy doesn’t like it when Neato stares at HIM, so we end up with conflict. And Neato, despite having a large personality, has a very small personage, so that’s a bit scary as Oy is three times his size already. I can’t figure out if Oy is just a bit of an asshole, because puppies generally don’t take on adults, or if he thinks Neato is just a different kind of puppy because he is so small. OTOH he is very careful not to go near Fae, and she is also small, so I think he might just be a bit of an asshole.

Maisie thawed a little and decide to play with Oy today and he was delighted, because Addy is fun to play with but also a delicate princess who gets screamy and pissed off when he plays too rough. I wish Wootie was still here to play with him, he was always so good at charming puppies and rough housing with them. Also I just wish Wootie was still here because I miss him so, so very much. Every day I miss him terribly.

Dexter wants Oy to go away, because he can’t get away from him when Oy decides he is going to play with the throw rug that is impersonating my very old dog. And speaking of Dexter, remember all the speculation about what his ears were going to do? I don’t think we will have that kind of fun with Oy, because while I am not sure what earset he will end up with, there is no way them things is standing up!

His mom has uppy ears, his dad has airplanes. I don’t know where Oy got his enormous ears from, maybe the Dumbo Souvenir shop? They are currently ridiculous though.

He has many nicknames, both in use and waiting for opportunity. When he is making me cry he is “Oy my god, what have I done?” and also “Oy have made a terrible mistake.” The first time he rolls in something stinky, he will be Oynk. The the first time he goes to the beach he will be an Oyster. He is also SOy silly. Overall, I really like him. Most of the time.

Now for those of you who do not Facebook, this is Neato

He is a little chichi-esque beast I picked up two and half years ago from the same shelter Addy came from. He is a hoot, and also a tiny monster. He loves to play disc, and swim, and can do some agility equipment, but he has some Big stranger danger and performance anxiety, so he does these things only for fun and only if nobody else is watching. He is 6lbs soaking wet, so he’s allowed to be scared of the great big world, in my opinion. Also, he speaks Spanish! And because I can’t ever shut up, he thinks his name is Neato Burrito Mosquito Torpedo Mojito Pequenito – all with a bad Latino accent.

Addy and Fae are still with me of course.

Fae is fat. Addy just had another dental and lost a bunch more teeth, and still hates the snow.

Winter is still kickin’ – he will be 15 this year! He has a lot more grey in him these dats, but fighting with his frienamie Neato keeps him young.

Crazy Miss Maisie turns 7 this month, and has reinjured her psoas, after all the rehab and gradual return to sporty things that we did, so she is more or less retired in that respect as the spirit is willing, the body is too long and causes repetitive injury :(

And Dexter, my beautiful old gentle soul, is still clawing his way through life on some shaky pins and arthritis where his joints should be, tinkling away continuously in his belly bands. He will turn 16 this year. I cannot even believe it, can you?