New dog, sort of

My new charge, Ollie, gettin' squirrelly.

When Tom and I met, I had two dogs: Abbie, an elderly, perfectly-behaved Golden Retriever and Angelina Jolie, a Shihtzu - Lhaso Apso mix who we believe to be possessed by demons.

Angelina, Puppy (April, 2005) and Angelina, Demonic Adult (November, 2006)

When we moved in to Tom's house, that was bigger and closer to town, Angelina was organized, tenacious and effective. She peed on the carpet, scratched up the woodwork, tormented the cats and stressed us out. Way out. At one point, I put her in Pampers, cutting a hole in the back for her curly tail to poke through. When she went outside, I'd take them off, then she'd run back in the house and pee on the carpet before I put a new one on. I hear real babies do a similar trick.

I think I'm really pretty good with training dogs. Tom says that "everyone thinks they are a good driver" though. I also think I'm a good driver. But I know a lot of the techniques and I'm consistent, though every so slightly lazy in sticking to a training schedule. I find puppies very cute, though it's rather monotonous work to teach them anything and infuriating when you don't make progress.

"Sit. Sit. Good. Hooray. Sit. Sit. Sit. Puppy, Sit. Good. Hooray." Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Snore.

We agreed we won't get pets until we buy a house, or at least for a year. I like to torture Tom by showing signs of reneging on the deal..."I know someone who had a baby and needs to rehome their dog. Don't you think we need to help them because it would be good to be better people and make a difference in the world?" etc...This week I did buy a couch without him, sure, but I will draw the line at things with parents. He should get a say in that, right? Watch for a couch blog entry next week when it gets here!

Anyway, our neighbor's little Jack Russell terrier puppy has been terribly lonely while dad's at work, so we are trying a new Playcare with Aunt Christine program. His name is Ollie and I think he's smart.

In a way, I get my dog itch scratched without all the responsibilities that go with having our own, but I also feel like there could be some Angelina atonement in here.

Bit of a bad start that he had an accident on the floor right in front of Tom on our first day, but, other than some minor choking and hysterics, I'm feeling pretty good about leash training.