13 July 2005

My puppy is lying on the floor next to my desk chair. It's too hot for her to lie on her binkie, and she's no longer insisting on physical contact with me, though she still likes to know where I am. Her name is Ista. For the first time in almost six years, I have a puppy. And she is such a good girl.

She is dreaming. Her little paws move, and she just gave a phantom bark, a dreamed whisper of a bark.

I think I had prepared myself that she would like Mark best, or Timprov, or my mom, or Stella; someone besides me. I didn't want to demand that kind of bond when it sometimes just doesn't work that way. But she has opinions about who her alpha dog is in this pack. She's starting to keep track of where I habitually am, and if she doesn't find me where she last saw me, she checks my chair at the kitchen table and my spot on the sofa before undergoing a more comprehensive search. She isn't exclusive, just preferential. She is glad to see Mark, glad to see Timprov; my mom was an instant cuddle, and she warmed up to David once she figured out that the cat smell was not actually threatening, and that his voice was gentle and he was doing interesting things including clicky noises and lights. (First cat smell in her life.) If you want to see pictures of her and me from someone who is an actual photographer, here is David (DDB)'s page from last night. And here are our amateur shots:

Ista likes to spread her food out while she's eating, so you can see a couple of bits of it in this picture. Also there is the hedgehog. The hedgehog squeaks, and when it squeaks, it must die. Her head is currently on the hedgehog as she sleeps.

Here is the first of the Headless Mom shots with Ista. (My mother told Mark not to worry about it, that she knew she wasn't the point of the pictures.) She was fascinated with the broom until we moved it away. It looked like something to chew.

Here's my whole mom, offering Ista her new ropey.

They really did enjoy each other's company.

Ista and I make stroganoff.

And here we sit together, me and my pup. She's a whopping six pounds today at the vet's. She's made noticeable behavior progress since yesterday, and is clearly making this her home and us her people. Which is lovely and wonderful and just what we wanted.

Many other areas of my life are on pause or slow-motion while we do the most intensive parts of training this pup. Which is fine and expected in some ways, but in other ways it's exhausting and draining. Well, we signed on for it, and the rewards are obvious. So that's where we are right now, dealing with jet lag and some colds and catching up from being gone and training a new puppy all at once. And if we're not as forthcoming with plans or whatever as we might like to be, that's why.