The Power of the Puppy....

It was a definite Monday today. It started early for me. Despite the fact that the puppies managed to sleep through a night last week without waking me up to take them outside, they haven't quite made it a routine yet. Thus, I woke up this morning at 5:05 a.m. with Rory Wrigglebottom (her official name now), edging closer to me. Rory has this routine, you see. When she needs to go the bathroom, she begins her wriggling (hence her name). During the time when she realizes she needs to go, she wriggles her way across my bed until she is sitting with her front paws on my face. I am convinced that if it were daylight at 5:05 a.m., Rory Wrigglebottom would be staring at me, her eyes only inches from mine.

However, I cannot deny the pups the need to go to the bathroom. After all, I'd rather they woke me up than go in the bed. I just wish it was a little earlier. My alarm is supposed to go off at 6:03 a.m.- I tend to believe in arbitrary alarm-setting rather than in linear five-minute increments- so a 5:05 a.m. wake-up wriggle is too late to conceivably go back to bed and get any decent sleep and too early to stay up and try to get through the workday and stay coherant.

Still, we managed and I did snatch at least another 30 minutes of sleep. The day was a Monday- quiet and slightly hectic but not enough to render it truly busy.

As always, I came home on a Monday night yawning and thinking a nap sounded nice. Instead of a nap, however, I decided to take the puppies for a walk. They had their first vet visit with me on Friday and are now immunized so that I can take them for walks. I've done it twice now and while they're getting the hang of the leashes, they're not what I'd call....good walkers.

They are, however, adorable. They have matching pink harnesses and when they walk, I have to admit, they are just so cute, I'm proud to be their mum. I, apparently, am not the only one to think so. No sooner did we get off our front lawn onto the pavement when my next door neighbours- the non-Dog Whisperer side, came out to greet us. They'd heard Rory's yipping and seen the puppies when they'd been outside mowing their front lawn and now they wanted a proper introduction. They're very chatty- though extremely nice- and it was a little hard to get away. Still, it's always nice to chat to the neighbours- particularly when they're not the ones with horribly yappy rat-terriers and a Dog Whisperer who likes to go shirtless when I really wish he wouldn't.

We eventually went along our way. I've learned that my neighbourhood is very dog-friendly. Almost every house has a dog or four that wants to greet my puppies. It's hard to know where to turn because of all the greeting barks. Still, we have our route and we carried on. I only had to deter Sookie and Rory from eating pinecones, hickory nuts and grass just a few times.

We made it around the block when we ran into the neighbour who lives in the house at the bottom of my garden. He's a new homeowner too and has done a ton of work on his house. He also has a little girl who lives with him part time who longs for a dachshund puppy. I've befriended her and let her hold Rory and Sookie any time she wants. He's a nice neighbour and he stopped to greet my puppies. Tonight, his little girl wasn't with him but we stopped to chat for a while. He let me peek my head in to see how much work he'd done on the house. He'd replaced all the carpet with laminate and I have to say, it looked pretty good. It makes we wish I didn't have my own light-blue-old-lady carpet that shows every stain...which isn't good when you're housebreaking puppies.

Anyway, after that, he told me he was a pipe-fitter and does a lot of plumbing and if I ever needed help with my plumbing, he'd help me out. He'd ever fit my faucets for free. Oh, and don't get any ideas. That's not an innuendo. He really is a plumber. That was rather nice of him, I thought. I think his name is Joe. He introduced himself to me the first time we met but my memory is horrible and I dont' know if I made that up or it's actually his name. It's not like I can say, "hey, is your name Joe?" without sounding like a dimwit.

Might-be-Joe is a nice man. He has a girlfriend who has a mini dachshund. He tells me a lot. I also met his neighbour- Bill- who lives across the street and always sits outside. They think my puppies are adorable.

We finally mosey-ed along a little further and turned the corner back onto our street. We were five houses down when two bicyclists pulled into their driveway and had to pet the puppies. The lady was super nice. Her name is Beth. She has dogs. She had a dachshund/golden retriever mix for 15 years but, sadly, she passed away not too long ago.

We finally made it home. The puppies were tired. I was amazed. I met more neighbours and talked to more people in one night than I have in almost the entire time I've lived here. They were all really nice. I mean, ok, so I do have the cutest puppies in the 'hood but, still, I think having puppies is the trick to meeting people. It was actually rather fun and the one thing I learned on this rather pleasant Monday evening is that no one can resist the power of the puppy.

Happy Tuesday!