Maggie has finally
received her forever-name: Magpie!
It just didn't seem right to keep a name she had been given on the
spur of the moment, with out any reflection of HER.
Soooo, we tried out a few things and her penchant for telling every
dog she meets her whole life story before they get down to playing made us
think of a chattering magpie. AND fits with her familiarity with the sound of mag...
something. Voila!
We have been going to
the dog park every morning except 3 when it was either raining or I was
sick. She has many friends
there: Joey, Katie and
Gideon, the Golden Retrievers; Fritz, Leeta and Lacy the German Wirehairs;
and of course Michaela's GSDSs Logan and Cozmo.
Today she met Star the Golden Retreiver/Clydesdale mix (he's HUGE),
Daisy the Bassett (Queen of the Park), and a bunch of other dogs neither
of us had met before. All of
the people are very understanding of her barking for 10 minutes when they
meet, though not all of the dogs know how to react.
No fireworks, though! She's
not too sure how to wrassle and tussle, and she gets overwhelmed by a
large group of dogs. One on
one with Joey or Star, though, she is learning to play.
It's very cool. And
when long lines of dogs get chasing, she's right there for that.
Today our old cat,
Pelinore, had had it with being in exile upstairs except when Magpie is
crated at night or sleeping in the spare bedroom with Randy during the
day. He was GONNA reclaim his
place in a lap or the back of the couch, darn it!
So I sat on the floor and Pelly parked on the back of the couch.
Maggie wanted SO MUCH to sniff and lick him, but every time she
lunged for him, I grabbed the hair on her back and held her to a sitting
position. When she relaxed
and stayed there I praised her like she'd won Westminster.
Repeat for a half-hour, with a few hisses and nips on her snout by
Pelly, and she was able to lie down on the seat of the couch while Pelly
stayed up top, without me helping. We repeated a similar procedure with Pelly on my lap as I sat
at the computer starting this, and now Maggie is asleep beside me and
Pelly is snoozin' on my lap. Self
control is SO HARD!!!! But
it's coming.
She's totally fine
with our Christmas tree, too. She
likes to nibble gently on it, and then lie under its edges like Queen of
the Forest when we catch her nibbling.
Nothing too rambunctious, though!
She's a little interested in that bucket of water under it, but we
don't have any chemicals in it yet, and if we do, we'll build a little
fence around it.