It’s so nice to be able to lay in bed with Zoe beside me - she has a rawhide piece and is happily and enthusiastically chewing the heck out of it. I’m grateful she’s easily occupied.

Zoe has earned the nickname “mountain goat.” Why? Because she likes to climb on top of you. When Den and I are in bed, or I’m laying on the couch, she constantly climbs up to sit on your back or chest or hip, or whatever is pointed up. Today she started sitting on the back of the couch. Sometimes she does it because she wants a better vantage point, sometimes she does it to get in close to lick you to death, and she also does it when she’s scared. Every day when Den comes home, he freaks her out - she doesn’t know who’s stomping up the front steps and banging the door open, so she runs over and hurls herself on top of me, sometimes buried behind my back. Then she recognizes him and climbs up onto my shoulder and head, wagging her tail. Good thing she’s still pretty light!

Her new favorite toy is the beaver hand-puppet. I didn’t know it was a hand-puppet when I bought it, but it turns out to be a great idea; she won’t bite hands, but she sure as heck will bite a beaver! She’s pretty vicious, actually, you have to be careful she doesn’t chomp too hard, since she doesn’t know it’s you. But it’s one of her favorite games - us smacking her head and paws with the beaver-hand, and she just lights into it, growling like a wicked little thing. If you put the beaver on your hand when she’s not nearby, and show her, she launches herself across the room to get at it. It’s really quite funny.

Sorry for no pictures lately - all my cameras went dead. Digital will be back in action tomorrow, we got more batteries.

Well we had two days accident-free. Unfortunately this morning there was a wet spot on a blanket on the floor in the bedroom, and I don’t know when it happened. I think we’re going to have to move everything off the floor there - after the fiasco a few days ago it’s just going to subvert all my attempts at potty-training.

The fiasco? Well, zoe had an accident and puddled on the floor in the bedroom. And then pooped in the bedroom on the pile of dirty clothes. And then Zeeke came along and - for some crazy reason - decided that just this once it would be okay to mark inside the house… and peed all over the entire area. There was pee all over the clothes, pee on the plastic bag the comforter came in, pee in a box, pee on the floor…. ugh. What a mess.

She is just so precious. Look at that little nose, those little fluffy ears, those little white paws. I love getting down on the floor and cuddling her and kissing her on the head.

Well we’ve been having more accidents lately. Since I’ve moved back to the office I can’t see when she asks to go out. So now we’re closing the office door and shutting her in here with me, which is a pain, but the other option is to put her on her leash, which gives her less leeway and will probably not work for me.

Last night we were trying to teach her “off.” She has springs in her legs, I swear. We’d say “off”, and put her on the floor. She’d just back up. “Off,” push her off the bed. She’d jump back up. She’d bounce right back up soon as her feet hit the floor, it was actually rather funny. But she finally gave up, she slept on the floor (not what I intended, however - I just wanted her off the bed so I could fix the comforter).

My attempt to show that the pup and cat do indeed actually get along. It’s just that every time I take out the camera the cat tries to headbutt it. Not so conducive to picture-taking.

She is just such a cutie. Every night she tromps up to us and snuggles and wiggles and curls up on our pillows beside our heads. Then when it’s time for sleep she moves down to the foot of the bed, between Den’s legs, and starts snoring.

In the morning she greets us so happily, rolling over on her back and wagging her whole butt. She wiggles and kicks and licks and is just such a happy puppy. She and I started this game where she kicks my hand, and I just kind of poke at her. Well this morning she finally started playing back. I could tell she wanted to, but someone drilled it into her never to bite. I’m trying to tell her that it’s okay to mouth gently in play. It was really adorable, she was making a little bitey-face and fending off the evil hand, ha! She was very gentle and tended to start licking when she actually caught me, which is fine. I just felt very happy that we found a game she likes to play with me.

Zoe is doing really well with my work times - she’s able to just nap on the floor beside me while I’m on the computer during the day. Of course I take breaks to spend time with her, take her outside, but at least I don’t have to worry about her getting into things (much). Zeeke unfortunately has never quite learned the trick of waiting quietly while mommy works, so he has to spend the day in his crate. Zoe would too, if she didn’t behave. I’m trying to get all of us into some sort of routine, to prepare for when I have paying jobs.

We need to figure something out for when I’m in the office - I’m missing her “need to go out” signals and we’re getting accidents again. I don’t really want to shut her in here - since all of us are in and out of this room all day long - but I will if I have to. It’s not really during the day that’s the problem, it’s the evening when Den’s home and Zeeke’s out and the dogs are playing. Much harder to keep track of things.

In terms of learning commands - Zoe’s got sit pretty well, and now I’m teaching her “down.” She sits when I ask her and then I say “down” and take her paws and gently place her into a down position. The look on her face was priceless, staring at my hands like “What ARE you doing?!” We’ve only done it a few times thus far, we’ll see how quickly she picks it up.

This morning Zoe really wasn’t too thrilled with Den stomping around, hauling his suitcase, pulling out bags and shaking out clothes. She sat on the bed leaning against me, watching him warily. She licks him to death and wags her tail like mad when he comes over to say hi to her, but it was more the sounds and things he was carrying she wasn’t happy about. She’s rather sensitive.

When he left both dogs were loose in the house, I was reading in bed. Zoe started whining and gave a bark in the living room. I ran out there and yep, she wanted out bad Yay Zoe!! I wasn’t sure she’d be able to indicate to me when I couldn’t see her (I was about to pull them both in the bedroom with me), but she’s learning in leaps and barks.

Outside I found how useful it is to have a “go potty” command. It’s cold out there this morning, and I rushed out there in my pajamas. She kept getting distracted by cars, a walker, birds, smells, etc. It’s helpful to be able to say “go potty!” and remind her why we’re standing there shivering!

Oh and that walker that went by? Zoe didn’t much like that. She ran over to me then stood there grrring and giving woofs. The lady laughed and said it sounded more like a sneeze than a bark.

Zoe and Jojo have quickly become if not good friends, at least good aquaintances. They get along quite well, don’t seem to bother each other much except for a sniff now and then. They both follow me all over the house, trotting along at my heels. Zoe will sleep under my chair or on a dog bed nearby, chewing on a rawhide, while Jojo likes to nap either on my lap or on my desk beside me. Neither are usually very far from me.

I’ve finally got both of them on a feeding schedule - and they both actually eat all their food! Zoe runs into her crate soon as I get the food ready, she eats in there with the door closed so she can’t steal Zeeke’s. Zeeke eats in the living room because he won’t eat if I put him in his crate in the bedroom. Soon as they’re both done (which takes only minutes, now) they both try to check the other’s bowl out… just to make sure they got everything. I have to pick up both bowls because they make such a racket with the empty stainless steel bowls.

This is what happens when I give them a rawhide. I gave them each one, but that never matters - they each want what the other has, so they end up chewing on opposite ends of the same one. Well, at least until Zeeke chewed one end off, then Zoe got the big piece and Zeeke got the small one. Figures. And after a while one of them got a bit bitchy about the other coming over to try to take it away - and it wasn’t Zeeke with the attitude. The little ones always seem to run the show, don’t they.