Page 26 - LeMagSpring2015

Her adult teeth are coming in. She still has her puppy
canines, but everywhere else new pearly whites are showing.
And she continues to let me groom her and fall asleep.

From the start it was clear that Decibel was exuberance where Her swimming is coming along well.
Barley had been quiet joy. She would zoom around with aban- Here is Decibel in the morning, reminding me to give her a big
don, and happily crash into brush or tall grass, where Barley had hug first. (No, she is not supposed to do it that way, but it was
heeled and gotten tired with a moderate walk. cute).
She didn’t like riding in the car (she’d puke or drool), where
Barley would have done the driving if he could have; he so loved
to ride. Barley was confident that the world was good, and that
people were great; Decibel loves her world and her people, and
remains suspicious about the rest. Unless they need her help. !
And then there were the ‘sibling rivalries’.

Skeeter instantly loved the new playmate, Maggie ignored her,
and Ralph – he didn’t like her at all. Decibel’s approach was in-
versely proportionate; she took Skeeter for granted, tried to play
with Maggie, and devotedly followed Ralph around, the ever
adoring little sister. Ralph would grumble and grouch, but he
should have known his attitude was futile. What the girl wants
the girl gets.

It took Decibel a couple of years, but she won him over com- We spent the morning in town on campus trying to find people.
pletely. I still get choked up when I look at the pictures of them I think they melted in the heat. Decibel got carsick again, so I
playing – really playing. had to clean her up a little in the bathroom. It isn’t easy to find
Ralph had a bit of a hard knocks start in the world, and to see someone to pet the pukey puppy. I think I will try to take her on
him chasing Decibel around the yard was precious. More about short but frequent drives, and see if that helps things. Decibel is
that later. our first dog to not like riding in the car. I am not sure if it is the
Here are “Glimpses of Decibel’s puppyhood”, condensed from motion or ‘stress’, but she really doesn’t like going places alone.
emails written at the time: Maybe I will take another dog with, she does better when we go
All is well here, and our guests are gone now, and Decibel was to dog classes and have one of her ‘siblings’ in the car. Also, we
outstandingly good. She was clean in the house, she stayed alone need a bigger crate... she keeps growing. Who saw that coming?
without trouble, she was very good with people who are not ‘dog Otherwise every day I notice her doing something new or
people’ and learned not to jump on them. I was very proud of remarkable. They are not huge things, but they add up. The
her not eating their shoes or the like, although twice a flip-flop other day she played with the cat, but came when I called her.
magically got stuck in her mouth. She did not eat it though, just Okay, I think that is huge! They were across the barnyard!
noodle it a bit.
Her adult teeth are coming in. She still has her puppy canines,
but everywhere else new pearly whites are showing. And she
continues to let me groom her and fall asleep.

24 ASBC