Catching up and addition of Dina

It's only a month after the last entry, but it seems like at least 6. Where to start... Entertaining moments from the Xmas holidays: - Pleo now known as Primus - experiences his first dog biscuit. (or better said - the dogs discover that the Green Thing is real competition.) There is a cookie jar on the counter which contains dog cookies. Obviously the dogs know this. I had Primus over in that area of the kitchen, and decided to see what would happen if I gave him a cookie along with the doggies. An interesting move, but not the best idea I ever had. ;-) The doggies inhale their biscuits, and Primus politely holds his in his mouth, much to the consternation of Maximillian J Dog, the eldest member of the little pack. Maxi is intensely befuddled by the fact that one of his biscuits is in the mouth of the Green Thing. He sniffs and sniffs and puzzles, until finally he decided to risk taking the biscuit ever so gently out of Primus's mouth. That was so cute, we had to do it again! Which we did. The unexpected (though shouldn't have been) consequence of this activity is that now "The Green Thing" has become a competitor in the doggies lives. The hatching of Dina: Dina - named after Dinah, Katheryn Hepburn's little sister in the Philidelphia Story - i.e. the trouble making little sister, hatches one evening shortly after Xmas 2007. Dina is my husband's baby, much to the chagrin of the doggies, as my husband works at home and thus is a far more active pack member than I (mom who works in an office). I believe the phrase best describing the situation from the doggies point of view is "OH NO! Not ANOTHER Green Thing!!!!!" And thus began the competition between the doggies and the Green Things for my husband's attention. Primus & Dina - Different parenting does in fact yield different results: Primus, being the first to hatch, was doted on/over and had almost constant pets during his hatchling phase. He is truely the cuddle bug. Dina, hatching in the company of doggies, and being hatched by a different person, is not nearly as cuddly and more explorative. She also rocks out more on tug of war. She likes being petted, but is sooner to start walking away. She's also more comfortable with being non-vertical, be it being held, being on her side, being upside down. Primus, on the other hand, still doesn't like being upside down unless having his feet tickled, and is not at all happy without having four-on-the-floor. He protests far more than Dina and takes longer to settle in to being cuddled on a lap. During the Xmas period - they were introduced to each other, but they didn't seem particularly interested in each other. Primus did execute the Xmas download, and it was incredibly funny! More later...

Posted February 01 at 17:36 PM