I Triple Dog Dare You

   . . . to keep up with me today, as I watch not just our two, but now Brandy makes three doggies at our house today!

   My father in law is having steel rods placed in his spine in about a week, and tomorrow is his pre-operative lab work and other tests with the surgeon.  So my mother in law brought her little dog over this evening to "have a sleepover" as the kids dubbed it, and spend the day tomorrow.

   Misty, at 7 years old, is like a big sister type.  She's not there to mother the other dogs, but she puts up with a lot.  She is very expressive and if she could roll her eyes, she'd be doing it!  She'll tolerate a certain amount of ear-pulling and tail-nibbling before she gets annoyed enough to do something about it.  She knows not to bite but will bare her teeth and offer a warning snarl or sometimes just a glance from her puts the smaller dogs in their place!

   Cocoa, our new active little puppy, came from a litter of 6 and was with her siblings almost right up until we adopted her from the shelter last week.  She is used to rough play and gets right in the thick of things gleefully!  Not only has she more than sufficiently tortured poor, patient Misty all week, but now that Brandy has arrived she has a new friend to munch on and chase around!

   Brandy and Misty have had poochie sleep overs before, so they know each other and are plenty used to each other.  Imagine Miss Brandy's extreme surprise to walk in and be pounced on by Cocoa!  I think Cocoa thinks Brandy is a puppy too, since they're about the same size right now.  At first Brandy ran off into her pen and stayed put, but after a little break in there she decided to come out and play too.  She's a little fluffball but she showed Cocoa she's not going to be pushed around.

   So tonight, Cocoa will be in her pen, and Brandy will be in hers, and Misty is left free to roam the house at night.  She's like Nana in Peter Pan stories, always going room to room to check on each of the kids, and then on us grown-ups, dozing for a short while in each person's room.  And she helps me wake the kids in the morning if they don't get out of bed when they ought to!  She'll lick their hands and faces, tug on their covers, or woof at them quietly til they respond and get up.

   Cocoa is not a big fan on night time, but she settles in her pen if I talk to her from the bed for a few minutes, just as long as she realizes I haven't left her there in the dark.  Brandy is a known cry baby and especially as she hasn't stayed in our new home yet, she will probably raise a howl-fest!  So we shall see if I get any sleep tonight.

   At the moment, all three ladies are napping peacefully on the living room floor.