THINGS MY DOG HAS EATEN:  Meet Prada

Before I jump right in and tell you all the stories about the things Pretty Prada Princess Puppy has eaten, I think you need to get to know her a bit.

I adopted my dog on New Year’s Day, 2006, when she was only seven weeks old.  She was the last in a long list of Christmas gifts from Capt. Mike that year – and the best I’ve ever received.  Yes, better than the pearls, better than the dinner out to my fave italian restaurant and even better than the shoes – seriously.

We already had three full grown dogs in the house when we brought home the tiny seven pound puppy.  I had (not by choice, by inheritance) a speed bump of an eleven-year-old 125 pound Irish Wolfhound-mix, my son had an extremely neurotic three-year-old 45 pound Boxer-mix and the Capt. had a three-year-old 50 pound American Foxhound who still is the Queen Bitch of Bitches.  This little black lab baby still with newborn bright blue eyes, newly separated from her mother and ten litter-mates, who I could carry around in one hand indefinitely, within an hour of arriving home had every other dog cowed.  She was dribbling the Boxer’s head against the floor by the time she was three months old for crying out loud.  The Irish Wolfhound banned himself outdoors for self protection.  Abbey, the American Foxhound, quickly discovered a) the puppy could not yet climb onto furniture unaided so the sofa became a “safe spot” and b) we wouldn’t let the puppy downstairs so that whole area became an additional haven from needle sharp puppy teeth.

When I wasn’t doing a Paris impersonation and carting her around from room to room, she was demanding to be lifted into “her” kitchen chair where she was happy to sit for as long as it took me to cook dinner (ours and thereby hers).

This being my very first just-my-dog, like a fool I allowed her to sleep on our bed.  This degree of spoiling is sort of the Captain’s fault.  When he rescued Abbey, and she came to live with us, he didn’t prevent her from sleeping on the sofas since she’d had a tough first few years, so of course my dogs said “to heck with you and your not-on-the-furniture crap”.  Whether that excuse flies or not, we now have a 70+ pound bed partner. 

Besides getting a king size bed, I don’t know what else we can do – especially since the Captain is soon going to get his own new puppy and we keep getting fatter.  Maybe two king size beds?  But would the puppies share with us?