Resting in the Backyard

Today it's been a bit cooler than it has been for the past few days, but I didn't want to break my tradition of reading while I chill in our plastic kiddie pool.  While I was in the pool, Pippin enjoyed wandering around the yard, chewing on a stick and then on his rawhide stick.  He is not a photo poser, and each time he sat down on the lawn, his back was to me, but I still got some fun pictures of him.

 Pippin with his stick

 Sniffing the wind as it blew by

 Then he found his rawhide stick.

Pip meets the snow

I can't get enough of Pip leaping through the snow.  He's having such a great time in Idaho.

When it's snowing, he loves to look up and watch the snow coming down.

Santa Pippin

The only part of his snow adventures that drives us crazy.  After zipping around outside and finally decides to come inside, he does a "do I really want to come in?" game.  He peeks in, we coax him in, he stands there letting the cold air in, we go to bring him in, he runs back down the back steps.  Repeat infinitely.  Ugh.

Thoughts on Pip's neuter

These are a few pictures from after Pip's neuter and rabies shot.  He got to wear the cone of shame for about a week.  It's funny how it led to some pretty profound thoughts for me.  There was a procedure that we, as his owners, knew he had to go through.  It had to be done.  He didn't know why.  Trustingly, he let me take him to the vet and leave him with strangers.  Then there was pain and soreness afterwards and this stupid thing around his head that kept him from nursing his wound.  

At church, someone was comparing their week's experiences to gospel principles.  I started applying them to Pippin's experience.  We're sent to this earth by a loving Heavenly Father who watches over us.  There are painful experiences he knows we'll go through.  We don't know why, and as we suffer their after-effects, in pain and with heart soreness, we turn to him.  As Pip did, we probably suffer some depression.  The worst part is is that we can't fix the wound.  We want to get to it, to make it better in our own way, not knowing that sometimes that makes the problem worse.  The only way to be healed is to trust God and know that eventually the pain will pass, and we will be healed.  I can only imagine my Father in Heaven's love for me as I look at him with my sad eyes and ask, "Why?"  It killed me that Pip couldn't understand when I explained it would only be for a short time and that there were wonderful things ahead.  (Hello Hondo dog park now that he has his rabies shot.  AWESOME!)

I guess the long and short of it is that I trust in God to help me through the "surgeries" of life and heal me, though I want to take charge of it myself.  Thanks for teaching me, Pip........ and the Holy Spirit. :)

"Seriously?  This is good for me?"

"You're mocking me, aren't you?"

"My voice sounds really loud in here."

"You put this thing on me and then take pictures?  Yah.  I love you, too."

Pippin after his first puppy trim.  He looks so fluffy and serious.  He's also sporting a a pretty awesome sailor neck kerchief.  We took it off him before he went to the dog park so the other dogs wouldn't mock him.

Bath and Play time Pics

Pippin post-bath cracks me up.  He is great for his bath and stays calm and lets me wash him.  When we're done, I dry him off, but it's never enough.  I put the towel on the floor and he races around the room, occasionally pausing to roll around again and again on it.  Thus, these pictures...

Later, post-bath- this is Pip with his much chewed-upon frisbee.

Play dates

I love that I have so many friends who have dogs in their families.  It makes it so nice to be able to "talk dog" and get together and let them play.  One of my biggest puppy supporters has been Holly Fowler.  We got together on Wednesday for her to hook me up with some art supplies and for her dog Ellie to meet Pip.  Ellie is a beautiful Brittany and has a big, barrel bark.  When she and Pippin met, she immediately grabbed her ball, held it in her mouth, and went down in a play bow- trying to get Pip to come play.  He wasn't quite sure about it, since she was so much bigger than he was.  I don't know what the deal was, though, he's been around only one dog who's his size!  After a while, Ellie camped out down in the sunken living room.  She'd bark and Pip would jump down the one step from the hardwood where Holly and I were, yip at her a couple times, and then come scurrying back up to us.  Later, when we went into the kitchen, both did tricks for their milkbone treats and Ellie even had patience with Pippin as he gnawed on her precious first bone.

The best part of the afternoon was when they really got to playing in the backyard.  It's also when things took a bizarre twist.  Finally, they started chasing each other around.  Ellie had a much better lay of the land, so she'd duck in and around the table and various bushes, and then circle around to where Pip was waiting to chase her again.  She started digging a bit by the side of the house and Holly got up to redirect her.  That's when she noticed the blood.  Looking closer, she could tell it was coming from Ellie's ear.  Ellie let her tend it and clean it off a bit.  When the dogs were chasing around, Ellie had gotten too close to a rosebush, and a thorn had made a tear on the underside of her ear.  I was so relieved that it wasn't Pippin's sharp little puppy teeth that had done it.

We called it a day, and Holly ended up taking Ellie to the vet!  She ended up with her ears taped down to her head because every time she'd shake her head, the wound would re-open.  Later that night, she got switched to a sock, which she didn't like very much at all.  Holly had to pull an all-night nursing shift.  It's all fun and games until the rose bush gets involved.








Adventures in play dates continued today when we went over to the home of a student of mine who attends Patterson- her name is Haylee.  Just before school let out, she and her family got two darling little mini dauchsaunds.  Since they're about the same age as Pippin, we thought it would be fun to get together for a puppy play party.  It's the first time he's been around puppies since we adopted him.   At first, he wasn't sure what to do.  Daisy and JR followed him all around the yard as he trotted around exploring.  Soon, though, Pip was sniffing them back, and then they started a few games of chase and had fun.  JR was pretty sleepy and subdued, but Pip and Daisy had a great time.  She had her favorite trick of jumping up on a picnic table despite her short little legs.  Pip wasn't too happy that he couldn't follow her up there.  Haylee was nice and decided to set him up on the table.  Well, then Daisy just hopped on down and Pippin was stuck up there.  All in all, though, it was a great fit and it was fun to spend time with my student and her parents.