I Love My Psycho Dog

Whew! What's with all the posts in the last few days? Man, it's like I just won't shut up now! Lucky you, yes?

OK. So, Lucy has the potty thing figured out. And she does great on her walks with the leash. And she follows the command for "sit." And then we started to try to teach her to "fetch."

Being the Dog Sap that I am, I've bought her all kinds of toys. It's actually been kind of sad to find that she really doesn't know how to play with any of them and looks at me like "what in the world are you doing giving me this when I have carpet [in her crate, so it's OK with me] to chew?" Anyway, one of the toys I bought was a stuffed chicken. "Chicken" is a strong word to describe it as it is just a stuffed tube of cloth with a beak and comb that has a squeaker inside. But oh, does she love it. So, I thought it would be the perfect thing to use to teach her to fetch. And that worked just great. She would fetch it every time I would throw it. And then the kids wanted in on the action, and she just kept trotting after Chicken and bringing it back. And then she hopped up onto the couch with Chicken in her mouth. And then she started "snapping" [a strong term] at any of us that attempted to take her Chicken away. So, Chicken got relegated to her crate where she stays when we are gone or at night.

But did that deter her? Heavens no! She's no dummy dog. She'll just trot right on up to Michael's room and find herself another buddy. Or three, as seen above. She does look a smidge demonic with those glowing eyes. Either that, or totally busted/deer in the headlights. If Michael saw this sight, he would be so freaking out right now. He and Lucy have this passive aggressive thing going with her pilfered buddies.

Here's ole Lucy arranging them to her liking. She is so crazy. But sweet. She tucks them under her chin, curls up and goes right to sleep. According to one website I checked out:

Why do dogs loved stuffed toys? Well, it seems we all loved stuffed toys.

Adults have them, kids love them, cats play with stuffed mice, and

dogs claim them to kill it, claim it, or just to love it.

It's just so crazy funny to me. Although I grew up with dogs, our dogs never needed this kind of comfort toy. Poor little Lu. Maybe more signs of coming from an abusive home? Maybe it's just innate - who knows. But as long as I can convince Michael to "share" a bit with our Lu (she's not actually choosing his most "special" buddies so far), I don't mind.

Frankly, I'm just glad I haven't found her trotting around with Su Su Prettiness in her jaws to date.