Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Davidia

Christmas time has come and gone and once again it was a time for puppy fun! This year my human and I celebrated the holiday with not only Atlantis but Davidia as well. I'd like to think I was in full control of the pups the entire time but with a one year old and a six month old running around I couldn't keep up with the perpetual motion and boundless energy of the pups. In fact I gave up rather early and let my human take charge.

She tried and actually didn't do to bad. The pups were a bit of handful even for her. Atlantis and Davidia, who is her half sister, didn't always play nice together. I didn't like Davidias' constant need to be in my face so I kept my distance and only played with Atlantis. So maybe the three of us did dash about the back yard a few times together but for the most part my human had to keep us all separate.

Feeding time was especially challenging. I get a little testy when food is being served, and that's putting is very mildly. Atlantis takes forever to eat and rarely finishes her food so I have to be kenneled while she's taking her sweet time at the food bowl. Davidia on the other hand became frantic around her meals and would inhale her food. She didn't even chew! So she couldn't be out while Atlantis ate or while I ate. I couldn't be out while either of them ate. To top it off my human only has two kennels so to keep feeding time friendly only one of us ate at a time and since my kennel was being used by and being peed in by Davidia, we'll get to that part later, I couldn't use it so I was often put in the pantry to wait my turn.

Now Davidia is young and a lot of her urination problems are due to her age. She tended to submissively pee every time my human approached her kennel to let her out. Wait let me rephrase that.. approached my kennel which Davidia was using. No worried about my kennel bed, my human did remove that before Davidia was dropped off. It didn't seem to matter how well my human controlled her fluid intake; the pup peed in the kennel and all over herself every time she was put in the kennel. My human spent a lot of time cleaning the kennel and mopping the tile floor. The pup wasn't allowed on any carpeted surfaces.

As long as my human monitored us all closely we all did very well together, even posed for a few photos. Dividia actually seemed to enjoy having her photo taken once she understood the stay command a little better. When all three of us did get along it was great. Atlantis and I still helped as per our service dog training and Davidia tried to mimic our tasks but didn't seem to really grasp the concept. That does come with time and maturity.

Once Davidia gains some of that maturity and better bladder control I know she'll be welcome to come and stay again sometime.

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