This was her when we got her. Look at how tiny she is!
Her name is Berlyne, (after one of the characters from this webcomic) and Dad and I went to get her on the eve of Christmas Eve. She cried almost the whole way home, until she fell asleep, drooling onto my leather jacket. But once we arrived, she settled right in.
The trip made her a bit sleepy, so she settled down into her comfy new bed to rest.
It's been four weeks since we brought her home, and I take pictures every Saturday to document her growth. Since I have my newly made resolution to keep, I thought writing a post about my pup would be a good way to start it off.
(Also, I apologize in advance for the poor quality of these pics, she's very wigglesome, and the lighting at our house in the winter is just atrocious.)
Berlyne is a very smart pup. She already knows the really important commands, like "come" and "sit" and "Leave it!" She's also semi-potty trained. I'm trying to get her to ring a bell when she needs to go out, and she does that about 37% of the time. The other 63% of the time we find her accidents under our beds. I should probably be very thankful for this experience, because I am learning patience. By the time this is over I'll have oodles of it. It'll be practically coming out of my ears.
Berlyne loves music. She is particularly fond of Gregorian chants. If I happen to be listening to something where there is a soprano singing high notes, she'll cock her head one way, than another when the notes change. It's very entertaining.
My family is learning the hymn "I Then Shall Live" to sing at church, and we practice it every evening, and every evening, Berlyne nods off to our singing.
Berlyne loves my other dog, Maddy, who is a full grown. Unfortunately, Maddy does not love her back. She is of a slightly jealous temperament, and isn't overly enthusiastic about sharing her humans with this new black imp.
Berlyne does not love Mum's little poodle dog Cassie though. The feeling is mutual. The two of them are always at each other's throats (metaphorically of course). They are extremely petty. If Cassie has a chew toy, Berlyne steal it. If Berlyne has her stick, Cassie will take it.
At meal times, Berlyne will ignore her own food to go get at his food bowl, and Cassie returns the favor. They think they're getting away with something special, but in reality, they are both just eating the same kind and the same amount of food.
Berlyne just adores my dad. She will get super excited when he comes home, and will dance around at his feet, impatiently waiting for him to get out of his coat and boots so he can pet her. Dad has had his head turned, and keeps threatening to steal her from me.
She loves the snow. She'd stay outside all day if I let her. But I get cold somewhere between five and ten minutes, and have to cut her fun short.
At night she sleeps on my bed, but she's a bit finicky. She'll decide she wants to sleep on my right side, then she decides the blanket looks softer on my left side. Then she decides she doesn't want to sleep next to me at all and goes off to lie in the far corner of the bed...but no, she does want to sleep next to me after all. But just being next to me isn't enough, no, she must sleep right on top of me.
NEVER MIND! The foot stool looks comfortable. Or not. Maybe the floor then. Oh look, there's Maddy, let's sleep next to her. Well, she growled when Berlyne tried to snuggle up, so back onto the bed she goes. Except she isn't quite big enough to make it, and needs her human to help her. Okay, now she wants to sleep on my right side. But wait, the blanket looks softer on my left side...
These are pictures of when we'd just got her. She was tired and hungry
but couldn't decide whether she wanted to eat more, or to sleep more, so she
just stayed in bed and ate out of her bowl at the same time.
As you can imagine, I have not been sleeping super well since she's been around, but it's worth it. I love her too much to complain. Or at least, I don't complain that much.
So that's your introduction to Berlyne, aka Baby. Isn't she sweet?
