Day 21/365: Abby Baby

Day 21/365: Abby Baby
Originally uploaded by donnyatx

One year ago, to the day, we made a 3 hour drive.

I'd seen an ad for standard poodles and the picture just killed me. It was several poofy, fluffy, CUTE spoos in a red wagon. I'd been wanting a dog for a very long time, but waiting until the twins were older. Occasionally I'd browse the classifieds looking for poodles. This one I could not resist. I showed Michael, who his notorious for looking at me and shaking his head... then walking away going no. Today, he said "Oh alright". I knew he loved those puppies just like I did!

So off we went... it was a long drive. I was so excited to see the puppies! The kids were with us and that drive drove them nuts, they wanted to be there alright already :-).

Abby's mom had 9 puppies and this was her first and last litter. All the boys had brown noses, all the girls had black. They were ALL so cute I really couldn't decide. We were there about 15 minutes before, finally, one of the puppies just made its way to me. I picked her up and she was so calm and sweet in my arms. That was the way we picked her out. She was just "the one" at that point.

She was perfect on the way home, we stopped once to let her go potty. She slept mostly.

The rest of that day she didn't leave me, I had her on or near me all the time. She was 10lbs of pure fluff and cuteness!

Potty training took FOREVER. She was 5 months old before she completely stopped making mistakes in the house. I used bells and the day she started ringing those to let me know was a day I was SO glad for! Relief!

She didn't go through any destructive chewing phase thankfully. She did and does have a thing for paper though. Tissues, paper, etc. She will eat it or chew it up. Ick!

She really helped me personally. I was in a bit of a personal "funk" the last couple of years. Having her around gave me something to focus on and be busy with. She's brought more fun to our world and made us all laugh at her silliness.

She has yet to meet a stranger. The dog LOVES everyone. She will go from person to person until she has met everyone, then she picks someone to sit near or lay on, lol.

She's also very.... sneaky. Right around the time she hit 11 months she started looking for "contraband". Anything she shouldn't have... she would grab. If she saw something she wanted she would try to sneak past me. She'd come look at me, then do the shifty eyes. I could hear her tip toeing around so it wouldn't be too obvious to me. Then she'd take whatever it was outside.... I quickly clued in on her wicked ways and now if I just say "Abby" sharply she will drop whatever she has and come to me. Rotten monkey!

She loves to tease the other dogs. She'll get one of their favorite toys, walk up to them, and tap it on their heads. Sometimes, instead, she will walk around them in circles until they notice what she has. Then she takes off running with it and of course they chase her.

Recently she was trying to get Charley to play with her. He was fairly fed up with her and walked to their dog crate to get away from her. She didn't like it one bit! As I watched her, she took her nose and closed the door to the crate. As if that wasn't enough, she took her mouth and lifted BOTH latches and closed it on him. She locked him in! I was in awe at that point, and I laughed as well. She's a cheeky one!

I am very glad we saw that ad and made the drive. She has been SO worth it.

~Donna