Puppy Syndrome

Okay. I'll admit it. After Thursday's post about Sarah and Baxter, and after looking through our puppy pictures of the Boos, I'm ready for another puppy.

Another puppy????? Am I out of my mind?

I suppose. But I think it's just Puppy Syndrome.

Here are its symptoms:

• an uncontrollable urge to pick up and caress the velvet-soft coat of a puppy, any puppy.
• a driving need to smell puppy breath and to hear puppy grunts
• a gentle tug at your heart
• a complete loss of practical sensibilities (particularly when you already own three dogs)
• impaired memory when it comes to dog-related finances
• further impaired memory regarding the work involved in raising and training a pup
• even further impaired memory about how difficult it is to go away (without dogs) on vacation or to visit out-of-town friends and family
• complete loss of recall regarding all those friends/family members you like to have over, but who feel uncomfortable around canines (one or two, let alone four)
• and visual impairment: eyes that refuse to see mounds of existing dog poop already in the back yard.

Ahhh... I guess I have a serious case of Puppy Syndrome, which I suppose will go untreated until Elsie is old enough to breed (and clear her screenings).

There is a rumor around here, however, that we might just get another female pup: this time a black. If we mate Ridge and Elsie, they'll only be able to produce yellow puppies (both are yellow). We may just need a black female to mix it up a bit.

We'll see. Right now puppy pictures will just have to do. Just look at some of these images of Baxter:

Here's Baxter at the door and pulling on the digital cameral strap. In both pictures he's probably only two months old.

Just in case some of you have puppy syndrome, here are some more Elsie and Baxter puppy pics. Ridge, as you regular readers know, came to us as a three-year-old; no puppy pictures of him. :o(

But Baxter and Elsie sure were cute.

Elsie loved to snuggle. And she really loved "nellie-phant"(a stuffed elephant) and her stuffed cow (below). Baxter loved his stuffed ducks, his stuffed hedgehog and a stuffed monkey with squeaky toys in its paws.

We had to discontinue using stuffed toys, especially those that squeaked, when Ridge came to live with us: he'd destroy them and would go wild at their sounds. Oh well; it's a season past. But we'll have that season again someday. :o)

Elsie always was a snuggler. She still is. :o)

But so was Baxter. He still is, too. So now we have an 80-pound lap dog and a 100-pound lap dog.

And, truth be told, I wouldn't have it any other way.

'Til next time,

Joan