[shepherd]

I’ve got this dog for the next week. He and Gypsy do not get along at all. It is kind of interesting, because my dachshund is probably 60% his weight but doesn’t take any of his shit. She gives him his space, but if he gets too rough she’ll snap at him and he gets it.

But Gypsy… she tries to fight him despite her advanced age and the fact that, if Shep wanted to, she would get destroyed. Gypsy seems to think she has to be alpha dog, so she’ll instigate. Growling, staring him down…to Shep the fighting is just an intense game, but it’s kind of frightening to witness. They don’t really bite, but I got my leg between them once and Gypsy definitely left a mark on my calf through jeans. So now I have to keep them separated.

(my brother): I wasn’t watching shep like a hawk but I knew he was beside me, I heard him licking and thought it was my pants so I just said “hey hey, stop” and then I look and he’s licking the side of my desk.

(my brother): what a weirdo

[photo from January 2010, when Shepherd was just a puppy]

I’ve been really busy—[and most of my thoughts boring or embarrassingly depressed]—so here’s a Shepherd outtake. He still really likes camera straps!

This is keeping me going today. [source]

I have been trying unsuccessfully to commemorate 1000 posts in a way befitting such a big round number. Then I found this video from January of my brother’s corgi, Shepherd. It is probably my favorite thing at the moment.

Some notes:

• Shep is about 10 weeks old.
• His ears haven’t yet stood up straight.
• My dachshunds are way too cool to, you know, play or anything.
• In particular, Jasmine never moves, satisfied to simply exist.

He likes running down one side of the deck, sprinting the length of the yard and back up the other side. Over and over again.

Today was so much fun. More Shepherd pictures once I get a chance to sit down at the computer [that is a warning].

[this is him lunging at the lens as soon as he saw me pull the camera out. sorry it’s a bit blurry]

Puppy-sitting Sheppenwolf for my brother. Tonight and tomorrow are going to be fun. He’ll either pester my middle-aged dachshund, who will pretend like he doesn’t exist, or he will stand and bark incessantly at my deaf and fuzzily-visioned elderly dachshund, wondering why she isn’t responding to his playful prompts (hint: she can’t hear).

[going to try and take some pictures, too]

My littlest cousin is in town so my brother brought puppy over to visit. I forgot how excited he can get! When he first saw me from the other end of the house and started sprinting, cute as could be, I couldn’t help but reach down and scoop him up.

I realized the mistake just a moment before I felt the pee, soaking through the front of my shirt. Ah well.

[Laundry day!]