Our Little Sophie

   David and I have had our little Sophie girl for seven weeks now. Sophie is a rescue dog, a Boston terrier, Beagle mix puppy we adopted in mid-July. She weighed all of 12 pounds when we adopted her. Now she weighs 29 pounds and we still have no idea how big she will get. She is now 18 weeks old and has a few months to go before she will be at her full size.

     I guess we are pretty committed now. We have invested in an invisible fence, vet visits, shots to prevent all sorts of ailments, puppy training classes, four crates of increasingly larger sizes, bulk dog food and treats of many flavors, harnesses, leashes, collars, dog shampoo, squeaky toys, cushions, blanket, doggie doorbell and boxes of poopy bags. We have yet to invest in the doggie sweater.
     Yesterday, David and I took Sophie to Purgatory Park nearby for a walk and a visit to the dog park.  Not quite knowing where it was, we started off in the opposite direction of the doggie park, but little Sophie walked like such a big girl she made us proud. Even passing a few strangers she was hardly bothered and "heeled" as they say, right next to us. Then, for what seemed to be no apparent reason the Tasmanian devil appears. She tries biting the leash, jumping up and growling. We alternately try ignoring her, holding the leash firm and turning away, scolding her, letting her sniff and maybe do a big doodie, or try correcting her somehow. Whatever we do seems to have no effect, or just makes the behavior worse. Purgatory, it seems was well named. Once committed on the far side of the trail there is no short-cut back to the car.
     This out of control puppi-ness is the reason for the harness, for the invisible fence and for the chain section on her leash. Sure, puppies will be puppies, but it is hard to figure out why she can be a little prize show girl one second and a jumping, pulling, barking, biting maniac the next. And, if the bad puppy behavior isn't bad enough David and I get into the puppy parenting method discussion and ensuing disagreement over whether you correct a puppy sometimes, never, correct her consistently, or whether we even correct her at all.
     I must be a perfectionist, because for the most part we have an amazing, smart and well-mannered puppy. She will sit, come, lie down, fetch, wait, and maybe once in a while "leave it." But after never having kids, hardly even having been around kids, the illogical and random behavior of little Sophie is a real challenge for me. Her sudden stubbornness and willfulness challenges my belief that we are "pack leaders" according to Cesar Millan. I fear we repeat the same episodes of the Dog Whisperer we just watched, and not in a good way.
     At one point, well after she had morphed from our little Sophie girl to wild beast from the animal kingdom, I tried to get her to just sit or even "look at me" which often helps her return to us from the wild. In doing this, I accidentally unhooked her chain. She bounded after a woman who had just passed us talking on her cell phone. Sophie danced and pranced around the poor woman, desperately wanting to be petted and played with.  The woman at least was not angry or fearful. She was just amused at the puppy's fixation with her and told her friend on the phone about this little puppy who was now following her.
    Returning to the car and her crate in the back seat, Sophie settles quickly and chews quietly on her rawhide. Exhausted now, she will go down for her nap quickly when we get home. The good news is that puppies really do sleep a lot. And, when she wakes, she will once again be our little angel, the cuddly, snuggling little sleepy puppy who wags her tail and gives us little kisses. We love our Sophie girl, our little angel - at least until the next walk around Purgatory Park.