Devotion ...

I've noticed over the past few months that S(my dog) is maturing and becoming more and more attached to me. I find the whole situation very flattering.

S is almost always in the same room as I am, all I have to do is look and there she is. At night she either sleeps on the bed with J & I or on the floor on my side of the bed. I take her with me almost everywhere I go because when I'm not home she's not happy. She doesn't cause trouble but she's not happy even when others are home and I really do prefer to have her with me. She makes me feel safe.

Her behavior on walks has improved a great deal and her focus on me is much better. I figure it's maturity setting in since she'll be 2 years old in November. When she was younger she used to run up to people on our walks(if she was off leash) and jump up on them. Now if she is off leash she'll walk by them and only lift her nose up enough to get a good sniff in as she passes. I tell people that look nervous "If you ignore her, she'll ignore you." I've even had her totally snub people that wanted to pet her.

I'd also like to note her reaction to any male coming to the house. The only men that seem acceptable to her are J and her best dog friend's 'daddy'(my good friend's husband). Otherwise she is very suspicions of men. I haven't had any strange women come to the house recently to tell you how she feels about women, she's fine with all my friends. We recently had a couple quotes done about getting a new furnace. In each case I told the men not to try to make nice with S as when some hot water installers tried that a few months ago she got very upset with them(barking and growling and backing off) and I had to put her outside while they were here. I think she made them nervous as she watched them both closely the whole time they were near me and would quietly growl at them from time to time. I didn't tell her she was bad I just stroked her and said it was okay and to shush, that seemed to be enough to keep her calm.

I can't explain the level of attention S gives me but it is a truly amazing thing to me and I just wanted to share. I hope she knows I love her too. She's my dog - but I'm her person too.

Cass :)

Lazy July is lazy - finally an update.

Sorry for the long silence. I have been quite enjoying the whole no kids in school deal and doing only what I have to. No onto the update!

I have a few shots from K's grade 8 graduation ... I can't believe she'll be in high school this fall. First shot is K leaving the house in her grad gown.K got an excellence in math award! She was top in her class in math-we were all surprised and happy. Here is a bad shot of her getting her award.Finally we have a shot of K with her BFF M both of them all dressed up for grad and a better shot of K's award(M got an award as well for overall good marks).M also got an academic award for being top in her senior kindergarten class but that picture is still on my camera, sorry. Here is a picture of her sleeping on my bed with S instead.Speaking of my furry children ... here are more shots of them. M cat snoozin' in J's computer chair.Our new cat C sleeping on the basement window cat shelf. C is going in for spay on Jul 10th, I'm hoping it'll cut back on the meowing she's been doing. She could be in heat again but I hope not - the vet won't operate on her if she's in heat.

Now for more pet pictures! Here is W wanting into the house.W pwning my dog S.This is a comparison shot so you all can see how small C is. You all saw W alone and W with S so here are W and C.

C is settling in well except for the meowing the last two nights, she also got out of the house twice yesterday but was quickly re-caught both times. The vet said(when we went to get her shots updated) that she is probably about a year old. She weighs 5 lbs after being with us for 2 weeks. I think she will always be tiny tiny and hopefully she'll also be quiet! Any tips on shutting a cat up at night would be appreciated.

I hope everyone is having a great summer!

Cass :)