Teenagers

Today Tessie is 8 months old.  Skippy will be 7 months old a week from Thursday.  They are both  officially in "puppy adolescence."  Puppy adolescence is a time where puppies act like adolescent kids.  They test their limits and try to get away with what they want to do.  This period usually falls between six and twelve months.  Our puppies have become well aware of their rules and their routine.  They know what they are allowed to do and what they are not allowed to do.  However, in the past couple of weeks they have begun to take on the mindset of "if I want to do it, I'm going to do it."  While I was away the puppies did some chewing of household items such as the leg of the coffee table.  T

hey are both well aware that they chew on their toys only but apparently the combination of being seven-month old puppies and having their routine disrupted was enough to spur them on to that golden moment.  While reading about this phase I found that one of the common occurrences is mouthiness.  Tessie wakes up in the morning and is so happy, like she hasn't seen us in ages.  She crawls up to the top of the bed and kisses, kisses, kisses, then gets so excited that she sneaks in a little love bite.  It doesn't hurt but it's enough for us to tell her "no bite," to which she typically tries it again.

They are continuing to grow and get bigger.  When they play now they are like linebackers.  Even little Skippy will take a running charge at Tessie and knock her right off of her feet.  They will be going on their first Saco trip this weekend and sleeping in a tent with us for the first time.  They will also be meeting Glory, the lab of a friend of Paulie's and quite possibly the most well-behaved dog I have ever met.  I have been waiting for our puppies to get to meet Glory because I think they will love her and watching her will be a good experience for them.  Glory loves to swim and retrieve balls from the water.  I think this is going to have a huge impact on Tessie, who we can tell wants so badly to run right into the water and have fun but is still unsure about it.  

On a more serious note, my trip to Puerto Rico really opened my eyes to what our puppies endured prior to being brought to the States.  We stayed at a resort during our trip but left the grounds a few times to visit the capital, the rainforest, and do some shopping.  The section of the island we visited, the area Tessie was found in, is very poor and animals are treated very badly.  We did a kayak tour of the bioluminescent bay and while waiting for our tour we saw numerous stray dogs lying in the street and looking for food.  One was limping.  We saw four stray dogs repeatedly at the resort we staying at as well.  The southern half of the island, where Skippy was rescued from, is supposed to be even worse.  There are several unpatrolled beaches there where animals are taken to be abandoned or killed.  The Save-a-Sato program is such a worthwhile cause and seeing the situation first hand really opened my eyes to that.  In fact, I made a donation as soon as I returned.  And if I thought Paulie would have gone for it, I would have returned with 2 or 3 more dogs for us.  Please visit saveasato.org