New pictures

Here are some new Lucy pictures! There are two albums in the link.

Pictures of Lucy

As promised, here are some pictures of Lucy (including one in her sweater, Faith! ;-) ) Click here for a link to more pics.

Lucy Goosy

Lucy is so much fun, she's so cute, so cuddly, but so wild! That's puppies. When you haven't been around a puppy for a while it is easy to forget just how much work they are. Poor John is holding everything together while I'm gone Monday through Thursday, so he comes home at lunchtime to let her out and feed her, then spends the evening delicately balancing play, feeding, rest time, and of course potty time. I think he was happier than normal to see me on Thursday last week so he could get a helping hand. And Lucy was very thrilled to see me! I was surprised at how excited she was, considering I had only spent four days with her before leaving for three days. She was all over me and licking my face like crazy when I got home. What a welcome home! She's such a good girl.

The cats are being so good. Many people know that while in England Abbey was a bit of a madam. She ruled the roost and was very friendly toward people but not very nice to Jude. When we moved into the apartment over here she somehow calmed down and became much more tolerant of Jude. You might even say they became friends. Then I was worried when we moved into the house the dynamics would change again and she might go back to her old ways, but after a couple of days in the new place she was settled in and remained friends with Jude. Then with the arrival of Lucy I was worried that she would get upset and redirect her anger toward Jude (man, am I always such a worrier?). But she has been very curious about Lucy and is always around watching her, but she's very tolerant. In fact, we were hoping she'd be more assertive to teach Lucy early on that she isn't to mess with the cats. Abbey has started to put her in her place a little with a swat here and there, but nothing like I thought. And then, the ultimate test of the cats' relationship happened and Abbey surprised us all....

This Saturday Tom and Tracy came over to see the house and meet Lucy. They are big animal people and obviously the puppy stage lasts for about the blink of an eye, so they had a ball being around one since it's been about 8 years since their dog was a puppy. Anyway, Lucy was messing with Abbey a little bit when Jude walked by. Lucy left Abbey and chased Jude. We had a screen covering the entry to the lounge, and Jude must not have seen it in his panic state (for those of you who haven't spent much time with Jude, he is a bit of a scaredy cat) because he flew right into it. Then that got him in more of a panic and he turned around and flew out of the room the other way. Well that got Lucy all wound up and she was chasing him out of the room, when who of all cats but Abbey comes up and starts going after Lucy!! She was defending Jude! Well, the four of us people were in hysterics about the turning of events. It was one hilarious episode after another, and we could hardly catch our breath. But John and I were so impressed with Abbey for sticking up for Jude! I know our English friends won't even believe this story, but I'm telling you it's all true.

We have loads of pictures of Lucy, but it's so busy between her, still settling into the house, plus getting ready for Christmas. Not to mention the fact that I'm only there at the weekends. But I will post them as soon as I can. We think she's pretty clever though. She has already mastered 'sit' and has been doing that for over a week. She is very good at 'Lucy come,' although it has to be said with the right amount of enthusiasm and the right wiggly hand motions. She is still mastering going potty outside. She's only little and her bladder only holds so much, so that is one thing. The other is it is taking her some time to figure out how to tell us she needs to go. There isn't much warning by way of ground sniffing or anything before she has to go. But she does know when she goes outside that she's out there to potty, so that's a start. Oh, and I also had to break down and buy her a sweater. I have never been one to dress up pets, and I'm sure Faith is reading this with her mouth dropped open in disbelief that I put clothing on my dog, but it was so cold last weekend that whenever her little puppy self went outside she was shivering. I had to do something to make going outside a little more comfortable for the poor thing! But I must admit, she looked so darn cute in the thing I just wanted to put her in my pocket.