Puppy prowess

We welcomed the newest addition to our family with open arms. A puppy. Actually it’s not our puppy. It’s Garrett’s puppy and Garrett is our youngest grandson. So, I guess that makes Brady our grand puppy. Garrett, his brother Brandon and his parents, Paul and my daughter Karen, took a trip to Birmingham , AL for a reunion, Paul’s family. When Karen asked if we could “puppy sit” for them. I immediately said yes, because Brady is such a cute little fellow — he’s a long-haired mini-wienie (the correct pronunciation is dachshund) dog. He’s playful and loves to run around and around in circles at full speed, and when he stops he rolls over to have his belly rubbed. How do you resist anything so cute?

We tried the first day or two to keep him in a (makeshift) pen, so to speak. We were concerned that he might dig out or find an area around the gate where he might wiggle through. First, we kept him in our sun room, but that quickly became a not-so-good idea. He tore up anything he could get into his mouth, be it one of Cynthia’s baskets, paper or a sack of potting soil. He managed to make a big mess of that. So, I put him outside the sun room in a little breezeway area between the back deck and our sun room in a small makeshift pen. That didn’t last long, because next thing I knew, he was standing at the door to the sunroom, staring in at us. Then, I tried putting him in the yard behind the deck in an area I tried to build for him. Almost before I could get back into the house, he had already gotten out and was standing at the sunroom door staring at me again. So, I moved him again, putting him an another area I attempted to block – barricade is more like it -- and again he crept out and, you guessed it, he was standing and staring at me. Actually, I think he was laughing at me! Cynthia and I have renamed him Little Houdini!

We even took him camping with us last weekend. He loved it and wasn’t any much trouble. He slept on the floor beside our bed. He’s so darned cute and so playful, though. Karen called to check on him and I gave him all good reports. She said, “Good, you’ve got him house trained, huh.” I said, “Maybe not so much house trained, but we’ve got him RV trained!” .The good news is, like all good little grand puppies he went home, because we had to go to Heavener for a few days. We admit, however, he will be missed. Only a little. Because every time Cynthia and I come home, we ask, ”Did you check on Brady?” We’ve also come to the gripping conclusion; maybe we just aren’t quite ready for a puppy. Not full-time, at least.