The Socialization of Hannah

It was time to take my car in for its complimentary oil change, tire rotation, and safety inspection at the Subaru Dealership.

Charlie has been my companion on these trips for 8 years. I decided to take just Hannah on this excursion to see how she'd handle meeting people in a strange place. 

One of the things I've discovered with her is that she is a quiet dog in the car. Charlie moans and groans almost all of the time while travelling. It is annoying, but I'm fairly used to it now.

Hannah rarely makes a peep. For now, she rides in her crate behind my seat. When I got to the Dealership, I opened up the door and helped her out when one of the 'Associates' came out to get my key. 

I walked into the Service area with Hannah and all the Service people turned to her immediately. 

"Awwwww"
"Awwww, a puppy!"
"Oh my gosh, so cute!"

And then...
"Oh wait! Where is Charlie? Is he okay?"

Hannah was so overcome by all the attention, she of course piddled right there and wagged her whole body.

I had to assure the Service Department that Charlie was indeed okay and that I felt Hannah needed to come on her own this time.

I took her to the mini dog park attached to the Dealership where she stretched her legs and smelled all the interesting signs that other dogs had left behind.

When we walked through the showroom the Sales Staff all inquired about Charlie and mooned over Hannah. 

To her credit, Hannah wagged and behaved with no more puppy accidents. People waiting for their Subies to be finished asked what 'breed' she was and I happily replied:

All American Dog aka Mutt

Hannah wiggled.

I sat down and she asked for 'lap'. 

She promptly fell sound asleep.

Other than her puppy behavior, Hannah is proving to be a super chill little dog. Life going on around her doesn't seem to concern her one bit.

It is so fun to be learning about her personality. 

The best thing about the visit?

The smiles that a nice wiggly puppy brought to everyone's faces.

Mini dogs

I've always loved BIG dogs. Nike was a cross between a Belgian Shephard and a Golden Retriever. Missy was a Samoyed/Lab. Nice and big.

I raised a litter of orphan hound dogs in our tiny kitchen of our tiny house and they did move outside and left our place to become working dogs. This was over 20 years ago.

However I yearned for a house dog after meeting Rich.
He found a tiny terrier mix dog and we had Xena. And she was a warrior. She was a Fiest Terrier and was very aggressive.

She only lived for 4 yrs. In the end it was her aggressive hunting and attitude that did her in.
I mourned her. She had been tough as nails and had more attitude than most any dog I'd ever known.

Sometimes she'd take off and come back exhausted.


Morris.
Well no explaining there. 14 years of an incredible friendship.
And he had a great job.

He helped train any hound dog puppies that came to our farm.

Dixie who was 'trained' by Morris has helped train Charlie.

And today it was Charlie's turn to help out with a puppy!

Meet Basil.
Our neighbor's new puppy. A Bichon Frise and Shih Tzu mix!

Not such a great photo, but you can see that Basil will be taller than Charlie, however...
Charlie is a tough little guy and ...

paid Basil no mind when she tried to 'lead' him.

Mini dogs.

Are we having fun yet?

I am.

Puppy Piles and Love

I've kept in touch with Charlie's Human Mom.

I found out that there was another litter of puppies due on July 28th or somewhere there abouts.
I used messenger and told Judy that I'd love to come and take photos of the puppies.



I brought Charlie's home made car seat to show Judy.
And...this happened...

I think they liked it!
This is Scooter on the bottom and Sophie on the top. Pekingese dogs. Adorable and very friendly.

Sophie's pups were playing puppy pile in the yard.

Only a stone cold heart wouldn't melt with this scene.

I brought a basket and put a pillow and a blanket in it. They loved it.
See the pup with the green collar? SHE picked me. Well so did the one with the blue collar.

I saw this look through the lens and my heart melted into little puddle of mush.

Thankfully, Sophie walked by and the puppies saw the moving snack bar.

And Sophie took care of them.

After snacking the pups were ready for a nap of sorts.
I put them back in the basket they climbed over one another and ...

...fell into puppy slumber land in mixed up little piles.

Sophie climbed into my lap while I sat on the grass and gave me loving snuffles.

I stayed for a while after putting the camera away and talked with Judy. What a great gal.
We enjoyed visiting with each other.

And...yet, I still wanted to go grab the one with the green collar. She just.
Well.
I know Rich would have a fit.
But.
Sigh.

I mean...

Goodness...