an empty place v3.5

Too many puppies are being shot in the dark.
Too many puppies are trained not to bark.

-- Primus "Too Many Puppies"

Well, Santa's Little Helper is doing well, she finally decided it was OK to get comfortable and get some sleep. I was up with her until about 3:30 this morning while she lay, uncomfortably, on her belly. Trading with M, I went to bed, and not being a "night person" she crashed on the couch. I got back up at about seven listening to the mutt whine in my ear (my bed is so high I feel like a five-year-old dangling my feet off the side and she can rest her head on the bed - I'm not used to having such a big dog) to let her go outside and make with the pee pee. After that, practically all day she's been lying around - on her side - and slightly wagging her tail. She's finally starting to be happy. I've never seen a dog nervously mope around like this one has done for the past 24 hours.

These are some of the things I've learned about this dog so far:

• She has no concept of sliding glass doors
• She loves to look at herself in the mirror
• She does not like being pinned up
• She will pick a person and follow them around until she gets bored with them then she'll follow someone else around for a while
  
• She will tell you when she's ready to go out
• If you don't listen to her, she will piss in the hallway in front of the bathroom like she's doing right now! Dammitall!!
• She will hide in Thing One's bottom bunk when you yell because she is pissing in the hallway
• I didn't yell at her, I just made a lot of noise because I, unlike all of you that would criticize, don't like people or animals pissing in my hallway
  
• She will come back and appologize after she gets back in with Thing Two after you've finished cleaning up and Febreezing the piss in the hallway
• She doesn't bark
• She is very lovable
• Unfortunately, I've gotten instantly attached to her and its gonna kill me if this doesn't work out. I hate dogs.
  
• She is aerodynamic and her snout is shaped like the tip of a dart
• I wonder if she shoots after a squirl and nails the fense if she'll stick
• She has no clue what fetch means
  

So far, she has ignored all of the other dogs in the neighborhood and hasn't bolted yet but we'll see. So far so good, I mean, its been 24 hours and we've had two "accidents" in the house and she's bounced off the sliding glass doors a dozen times or so. But she's learning, and so are we.