Day 19: In Honour of Dogs

Sisterly bliss

I'm wiggling in my seat because my girls have learnt 'stay' today. Only in the kitchen, with no distractions and some very stinky liver and a dose of boredom, but still, they will wait at one side of the kitchen until I call them. This is progress! They've been sitting for ages and they recently learnt to catch liver slivers in mid-air. Now they can wait and stay. We are advancing. 

Poster girl

That's not to say we've won in our relationship. Yet. We're working on it. They're still on lead walks at the moment, and they're desperate to fight each other, but that's not cool on the lead, so they're not allowed. When they're at home, they nibble rather than biting. When they're out, they bite the shit out of each other, bowl each other over, pin each other down. 

Mouse is a dab hand at the 40-mile-an-hour tail grab. Baba is more of a chest bump kind of a girl (Baba got beef. Mouse needs to use agility and cunning to match her, but she can). 

Mouse being cute as fuck with a little lap-sit

I'm learning that this level of intensity is not pure play, but also contains some serious pecking-order establishment, and while playing is to be encouraged, tearing a piece off each other isn't. We're working on it. 

I am grateful for their lovely bodies, their lean and lovely bellies, their soft ears and their almond eyes that gentle themselves as they relax. I'm grateful for the smell of them, even when it's a bit pungent and very dog. I love their responsiveness and I'm delighted that the phrase 'I can see you with my eyes!' gets them to stop doing whatever it is they're doing, like chewing my Peruvian ex-poncho rug or coming in to start another fight. 

Anyone for ears?

We're not out of the woods. I may still need to love these beauties and let them go where they can have more experienced care, more space, more time and perhaps a regular man in their life (Lord knows we could all do with a bit of that!) But I haven't given up on us yet. 

And if we do part, I wish for them to be loved as hard as I love them. I'm sure they will be. They are the most delightful pair. And if they are, and they are happier, we will always have shared this... play bows and belly rubs; learning together and failing at a few things; love, respect and affection. And ears. We can never forget ears.