A Tale of Two Kittens and One Puppy

My brother recently adopted a Cockapoo, whom they named Paige. Cockapoos are a mix of Cocker Spaniel and Poodles, and are supposedly hypoallergenic. However, as people often find out, there’s no such thing as a hypoallergenic dog, and she still bothers his allergies. But Paige is staying. And she is awfully cute.

I don’t usually find stub tails cute, but when she wags her tail, which is most of the time, her whole body wags with it! I also don’t particularly like the look of Westies, for instance, but this is one cute little puppy (as if they aren’t almost all cute).

I brought up several toys & treats for Paige. I don’t know much about what kids want, having never had them, but I have a better idea of what dogs like.

Paige seems to have a low frustration level. When we first gave her the bone, she knew it was something good, but she didn’t know what to do with it so she barked at it (quite loudly, I might add). After we held it for her for a little while she got the idea. She liked that! She especially liked the beef trachea I brought — and after hours of gnawing on it, she still wasn’t finished. Which is surprising, since Chester & Lola can knock those off in less than an hour — and she’s their size right now.

I also spent a little time showing them a clicker, how to lure her into a sit, and spend several sessions over the weekend practicing sit. By the time I left, she was well on her way to knowing sit.

It was funny, though, the very first session we did with her went perfectly, and she was sitting in no time. After that, she continued to sit, but she wouldn’t do it right by me. She’d walk away and then sit. It was almost as though she was scared of me, although she continued to play with me and snuggle with me.

The best I could figure was that no one had ever asked her to actually do anything for her food before, and she wasn’t quite sure what to make of that.

Cute as she is, though, it was nice to come home to my dogs (not puppies), who while not perfect, don’t jump up and grab my clothes or attack my hands. Not that that didn’t happen with Chester — it most definitely did! — just that that phase is long behind us. I wish I’d known about those bones & beef tracheas when we were still in that phase.

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