For the dogs

Yesterday, Dixie turned 14 weeks old.  She's grown so fast in the past six weeks, and most of that growth seems to be in her ears, legs and feet.

This picture was taken during her first week here. It was a rare quiet moment she shared with my niece. 



She likes to sit on Cheyenne's bed on the front porch, which is cool except that she also likes to get up and sprint under the front gate and out onto the sidewalk.  And that is not cool because that's too close to the street. She's almost too big to do that, so for now and until she grows a bit more, her porch and yard activites are limited to the back where the fence is solid wood to the ground.





She's a sweet puppy but she's also a terror.  She likes to chew anything and everything she can wrap her mouth around.  Table legs, books, furniture corners, shoes, dog beds, and my hands and feet.  I keep a supply of toys and rawhide chews throughout the house to divert her whenever she's headed in the wrong chewing direction.  Baby gates and crate training help me keep an eye on her. Also? All my bookshelves look like some version of this kitchen bookshelf now:



She's a Coonhound, so her barks roll into baying and I have discovered that I love that sound.  Barking?  Not so much.  Baying?  Absolutely.  She's expressive with her needs, likes and dislikes, and is learning to bark at the door when she wants in or out. 

Formal training, for both of us, begins in a couple weeks.  For now, she's safest and quietest when she's sleeping.



The photo below of Dixie and my niece is the most recent I have of Dix.  I think that if you scroll up to the earlier photo of the two of them, you will see the rapid growth we are experiencing around here!  I apologize for the blur.  Unless she's asleep, she is constantly on the move.



And what of Cheyenne? I'm proud of her as she's adjusting well. I even caught her playing with Dixie the other day. Mostly though, she ignores Dixie and chooses me as her play buddy.  Which is just fine with me.