Dogs and Lions

I have very mixed feelings about our latest addition. Don’t get me wrong, she is incredible, and I love her. She slept through the night and sat quietly at the door to her crate until Mrs. Lion got up to pee early this morning. She didn’t whine or bark. I’m impressed! When we picked her up, she did complain loudly for a while when we put her in her crate for the ride home. She seemed to like the “Doggy” song when we asked Alexa to play it. Yes, we have Alexa built-in our car.

She settled down for the nearly four-hour ride home. She didn’t pee in the crate. What a great pup! She’s affectionate and very sweet. She has Mrs. Lion wrapped around her little paw. I’ll have to ask Willow how she did it. She’s only seven weeks old and takes lots of naps. During one, I completed her AKC registration.

All this is great. We’re both very happy she’s here. Of course, the more difficult times are a month or two from now when she starts teething. It doesn’t matter. Mrs. Lion absolutely loves puppies. OK, so do I. Willow’s excellent manners remind me of our recently deceased dog, Daisy. She also quietly stayed in her crate right from the start. She also liked to get under the bed. Daisy considered that area her private cave. Even in the end, when she was in horrible pain, she found a way to get under once in a while for a nap.

I miss her. Mrs. Lion says I was her human. I don’t know about that, but that silly dog was a big part of my life for almost nine years. I don’t resent the new addition. I know she isn’t taking Daisy’s place. Seeing her doing the same things that Daisy did at her age makes me sad. I feel guilty that I didn’t know we were hurting her when we had her spayed. Yes, I realize that she was over seven years old when the study was published that links joint disease with spaying. Still, it was my misguided effort to help her that brought her so much pain.

We won’t make that mistake again. I’m glad we have another chance with Willow.

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