Settling into a new routine

I came home tonight and put the dogs in the back yard. Angus grabbed my mitten and took off with it. Rosie wanted to play fetch. I threw the rubber stick for Rosie, wrested my mitten away from Angus, threw the stick for Rosie, Angus grabbed the hem of my down coat in his shark jaws, I tried to disengage the coat from the teeth without releasing all the down feathers, Rosie barked because she wanted me to throw the stick again, Angus ran off and peed (yay!), I threw the stick for Rosie, Angus tried to grab the stick, Rosie barked at him, and are you exhausted yet? I am.

We went into the house and Angus peed on the living room rug (booo!).

When Doug came home I handed over Angus, leashed up Rosie, and we went for a walk. It was four below zero, the stars were bright, and even though we only went a few blocks, it felt good. Nobody was chewing on my hand. Nobody was trying to steal my mitten. Just Rosie and me, trucking along, looking for owls. (We didn't see one tonight. But we did see one in the pre-dawn walk of yesterday morning. It flew right over our heads.)

Rosie is wondering, I think, when Angus is going home.  She still plays with him every day, but with less excitement and passion than the first few days. She wants more one-on-one time--not with Angus, but with me. In the yard, she wants my full attention. In the house, she watches warily as he plays with toys that once were hers.

This will all work out. Riley was this way with Rosie, too, when Rosie was a baby. Adjustments must be made. Check with me a year from now and I'll tell you that everything is great and I'll deny that it wasn't always perfect. But wow, this is a big adjustment, bringing a new growing creature into our lives. And speaking of growing--look at the difference in these two pictures. The first picture was Saturday, I believe. The bottom picture is five minutes ago. Five days, and he looks like he's doubled in size.