Hooray! Shouted the pupper. I’m back!

MaeMae, our witchy cat: Oh, god, it’s the drunkard again.

Puppy: Hello maybe you’re confused my name is Pickles not Pickled I know it’s close but I’m too young to drink I’m not five months old yet how old are you

Me: Hah! Guess he taught you.

The cat glared at me and spoke to the puppy: Olen vanhin ja sinun on kunnioitettava minua.

The puppy squinted his eyes as I smacked my hand to my forehead. This again?

Puppy: Työskentelen edelleen suomella voisimmeko käyttää jotain muuta

Me: What the hell?? And what language is that?!

MaeMae: Oh, my god. Human education. (Heavy sigh) it’s Finnish, but apparently our little student here hasn’t been studying hard enough. He wants to speak in something else.

Puppy, getting hackles up: یں اس کا سخت مطالعہ کر رہا ہوں۔

MaeMae, mildly impressed: Urdu. Not bad. Was that an elective?

Puppy: 係呀，我鍾意學語言

Me: Okay, knock it off!

MaeMae: El idiota del pueblo aquí ni siquiera habla cantonés. O mucho español.

Me, scowling: You said that in Spanish so I’d understand half of it.

MaeMae, smirking: Which half? The part where you don’t even speak Cantonese, or the bit about the village idiot?

I swear to you, I am taking that f’in’ feline to the pound.

Puppy: wanna play I want to run you want to join in we can have fun

MaeMae: Ugh. Can’t you at least puppysit OLDER dogs? Like, 13, 14 years old? These damn babies are exhausting.

So the puppy was here for the weekend – we had him to stay a couple of weeks ago. Granny adores him, with good reason – he’s gentle and loves to please.

We’re in agreement, though, we’re not ready for another puppy raising experience (we’re involved with Guide Dogs of America, whose headquarters are nearby – we’ve raised two puppies, one of whom was paired as a service dog with a veteran).

Puppy sitting gives us the joys without the overwhelming commitment. I’m trying to sample retirement by taking longer vacations, which is not conducive to having a full time dog.

While I’m working, Beloved likes going on the Friday Fun walks with the local GDA group, and an extra set of hands never goes amiss. She also puppy-cuddles.

I’m kinda jealous of that… those puppies, who require “cuddling” from about three days old, have stimulation and exposure to various things (getting used to having their toes touched, ears stroked, wearing a vest etc) are SOOO darn cute. However, she’s been a volunteer for rounding the corner on three years, so she gets to do some fun stuff.

Rather than sit and stew, I decided I’ll pay my dues and see what happens… so on Sundays I go in and muck out dog kennels (far, far superior to mucking out cow sheds, lemme tell you, which I did as a kid… SOOOO much less poop.

It’s still smelly, but somehow cow pies are not as offensive as dog doodies – probably because cows are vegetarian. Less stinky but damn the quantity is huge.). I also do laundry (puppies less than eight weeks old get cleaned up (mostly) by mom but wowwee, those blankets…) and dishes. It’s all good.