Today was hectic, and Tessa had to spend a chunk of it in her crate. To be fair, I brought her with me to visit with some family at my mom's house. She got to meet her "cousin," who is a big-time dog lover. Tessa and the three kids (my two and Cousin) ran and played in the backyard for over an hour. Tessa particularly enjoyed when the boys wrestled because they would chase and tackle each other. She would run alongside and hang back a little, and as soon as the boys came down, she pounced, licking their faces and climbing all over them. It was exactly as you might imagine a big kids-and-dog play session would be (but rarely is).
She's just so perfect. I love her to pieces. Even when she's stealing shoes and streaking around the house with them.
Here's a video of a bit of the action. It's noisy in the background because, while Cousin was completely enamored with the pup, my kids are now a bit jaded and were busy playing Uno.
By the way, I'm the voice in the video that sounds like that of a smoker. I've got some kind of long-term Laryngitis thingo that I'm supposed to fix by resting my voice and taking a bunch of nasal allergy medicine. I'm doing one of those two things well. I'm betting you'll be able to figure out which one.
I'm working hard on socializing Tessa while still keeping her safe from disease. My dog training friend Angelica told me to try for five new people and one new location every day. Well, I'm failing that. But I am trying! Saturday the "new location" was our front yard on a long line. Sunday was a good day, though, as I took her to a safe location to meet with lots of new people (more than five!) and some safe dogs too. She hung out in a tunnel for a bit and practiced on a balance board as well. She had a fabulous time and was really tired at the end of the visit! I brought my Papillon over too and he hated the entire experience, which is typical of him.
The rest of the week was really hard. We had many medical appointments for members of the family, as well as other obligations. Monday Tessa went to my parents' house and visited with their dog briefly. She met my dad for the first time as well. Friday she went to my daughter's school at pick up time to meet kids and parents. The rest of the week is fuzzy; I can't really even remember what all we did but there were a couple of days where "nothing" was the answer. I didn't realize that I'd feel so much pressure with this puppy. I feel obligated to make her upbringing perfect, and then I feel overwhelmed at the realization that that's not going to be possible, not with my life. My mom gave me good advice though: "She's a puppy, not a project. You should be enjoying her!" I'll try!
For other Border Collie lovers, Kristie Moser and I put together a fun Border Collie T-shirt which is now for sale in my Zazzle store. More are coming but since there is a 40% coupon available for white shirts today, I thought I'd share. Here's the link to my store: http://www.zazzle.com/0Brenna0?rf=238917557343649119 The coupon for the white T-shirt discount is DAILYDEALS12
