Mia

Thanksgiving came along and gave us a chance to introduce puppy to the family. Bruce’s parents thought she was adorable. They really wanted a puppy and as it happened Guinness’ sister Mia was tired of the Las Vegas lifestyle. Mia came to live with them near the beach. Their brother stayed in Vegas and is being trained as a therapy dog.

It’s interesting to see the two different personalities. Mia is sweet and shy and Guinness just wants to play and meet everyone she sees. Mia is fluffier and a bit bigger than Guinness. I’m sure they enjoy having each other nearby for visits.

Water Dog

I have a little waterfall in the back garden and set it up one sunny Sunday afternoon. Apparently wheatens like water? Must be all that otter catching they used to do. (Why did they hunt otters of all things?) Once the water was running she was fascinated. She wound up wet and drippy and very happy and we had to lock her out of the house. Guinness also loves to chase the hose and play in the sprinklers, biting at the water from all nearby sprinkler heads. When we go for a walk in the morning it’s hard to get her to walk past lawns where the sprinklers are going off. She looks like a different dog when she’s wet! I discovered that guests do not
appreciate a soggy drippy dog jumping up on them. We have banned the waterfall when we have people over.

Photo Op

My sister came down not long after Halloween and got to meet Guinness for the first time. I think her first comment was "My you're a springy little thing!" The puppy does love to jump straight up in the air when she meets someone. My sister is a good photographer and very patient. We went for a walk and she was able to get her in some picturesque settings. I believe at one point the puppy was investigating some flowers and we agreed that we didn't think they were toxic.

We worked hard at trying to get a shot of her shamrock collar.

My neice liked this photo and posted it on the internet on a creative photo site

Howloween

Now I'm determined not to be that person who dresses my dog in clothes, but OMG there were these really cute "party collars" at the pet store and I thought that would be sort of a concession to doggie costumes at Halloween. I bought a variety of Halloween ribbon and attached pieces to another ribbon which would of course lie jauntily around her neck and be so cute when the trick or treaters came to the door that they'd have to oooh and ahhh. Oh and I was going to wrap her leash with tiny pumpkin lights.




Reality worked out slightly differently. First of all the lights never happened and she was soooooo wiggly I couldn't hold her and the (heavy) candy bowl. Not to mention that the kids were only interested in the candy and how cute they were that they couldn't appreciate the adorability of my puppy. I soon gave up on the whole door thing and managed to get her to sit still for a nano second for a picture. If she could roll her eyes at me I'm sure she would have. Did you notice the slightly askew "party collar?"

Demon Seed

By the time we'd had her a month she was up to six pounds. We visited her nephew again and this time Guinness was relentless. She wanted to play non-stop and was especially fascinated by his elegant ears. My S.O. has named her Demon Seed as a result. She is still in need of doggy manners.

She always wants to help so my S.O. ties her up outside while he works. She had her favorite toy the squirrell which is a combo rope toy, plush toy and kong!

So Darn Cute

There were so many things about Guinness that made us laugh. She hopped like a bunny and would, and still does talk back with a rooo rooo rooo. At that point an obvious nickname was Roo (Kanga's baby from Winnie the Poo.) She had very cute bunny paws especially whe she was asleep.

It was soon time to give her a bath - she was not too thrilled but was so soft and cuddly afterwards. The vet recommended baby shampoo.

A lady at work who shows wheatens told me that they really like carrots. Yes they do! My sister said her black lab's mouth waters when he sees her take out the sugar snap peas. Guinness likes those too. I think it's the cold crunch.

Doggie Door

Housebreaking her went fairly easily especially after the doggie door was installed. She's always interested in any power tools and wants to help.

It took about a month until we could trust her in the house. She's a smart puppy.

A Visit to Her Nephew Potter

Our first visit was a trip to Huntington Beach to visit her newphew, a cavalier spaniel. He is a well behaved gentleman. She was much smaller so she was also well behaved. There was a lot going on that day and we had a little enclosure for her that worked well. Potter didn't know what to make of her.

New Puppy

A cute little wheaten terrier puppy joined our family in September. She was a free puppy and was the runt of the litter and very spirited. Her daddy is a fancy show dog. We named her Guinness because hey she's Irish!

She slept the whole day we brought her home. We took her to a couple of friends' houses and she konked on their rug and grass.

Must have been stress. She never whined or wimpered though. One of my friends was worried that she might be sick. When we got home she found a blue cheneille pillow and fell fast asleep under a coffee table. She was 3 1/2 pounds when we brought her home.

It's been fun to watch her coat change from chocolate to caramel. Of course we're still learning about these dogs.