MAISIE AT HOME 26 NOVEMBER 2008

Bob Shire writes: When we first brought Maisie home, she did not get a warm reception from our other two Cairns. Kelly, 13-1/2, found her to be a nuisance. Miss Moneypenny, whom we adopted from CRUSA in March 2008, was more emphatic, as she is a very jealous dog. (She was nicknamed "me, too" at Violetta's, her foster home). Maisie wanted to play with her, but Moneypenny would growl & snap at her when she came round. So we slowly exposed the two to each other under close supervision, trying to do so in situations that Moneypenny enjoys, like walk time & treat time. After about 2-1/2 weeks, we decided to turn Maisie loose with the other two dogs in the downstairs part of the house. Bedlam ensued. Maisie ran from one end of the house to the other as fast as she could with the other two dogs chasing her (at least until Kelly pooped out), barking the whole time. When Moneypenny caught up, Maisie would hide under a piece of furniture, then scoot out the side or back to run past Moneypenny, with Moneypenny & Kelly giving chase again. This would go on for six to eight round trips of the downstairs, until I declared play time over. Then I decided to introduce a toy, Marlo The Marmot (made by Plush Puppies). Marlo was always our recently-departed Zippy's favorite toy and it became Moneypenny's favorite, too. It has a big, hairy body the size of a junior football, a loud grunter, squeaker & rattle in the body & head, and a squeaker at the end of its two-foot-long tail. It also has four long legs & two ears for a dog to chew on. As you can see below (and, by the way, those are two different Marlos), at first Maisie was a little shy about challenging Moneypenny & her Marlo, but she eventually grew bolder until they were playing "I bite you, you bite me" . . . . . . (while Kelly used the distraction to get in a rear-end sniff). And by the way, Marlo is now Maisie's favorite toy, too.

OVER THE RIVER . . . 27 NOVEMBER 2008

Here's Maisie about a week after we adopted her and . . . . . . with Moneypenny in the back of the car on the way to grandma's on Thanksgiving. Notice any difference? It's her left ear! The top used to droop, but within the last few days it's straightened up. You can also see what good pals Maisie & Moneypenny have become. Kelly, though, still thinks she's a nuisance!

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