a spell was cast

 As the days go by Lupa is becoming more and more our dog. She’s getting past some of the puppy hurdles (chewing on everything and housebreaking) and becoming a good dog. For the first few weeks that we had her I had serious regrets and wondered if I’d ever be fond of her. I would have given her back if that had been an option. Today? We’ll keep her ;-) 

We actually wonder if the woman I met at Pet Valu was a witch, a white witch, and that she cast a 'good dog' spell on Lupa.

She’s showing signs of improvement and as the days pass I find myself growing more and more fond of her. She’s very sweet and happy to cuddle up with us. The days (weeks?) of angst have passed, replaced by optimism. 

We didn’t go anywhere with her yesterday (15cm of snow kept us off the roads), but today, after an aborted trip to Kirsten’s, we went to the Home Hardware parking lot again. I figure if I can’t get attention there, what hope do I have for an area with more distraction… She was wound up at first but we walked around for a while letting her sniff. By the time we stopped to chat with a random guy (who recognized Carm from working years), she settled right down. She’d sit, give me attention, not pull on her leash! She was great! Good feelings washed over me embellished with lots of hope. 

She’s just 21 weeks so I shouldn’t expect her to behave like Spike after his service dog training. I do tend to compare her with him, which isn’t fair at all; he was born a good dog but she has to work at it a bit. I miss him like crazy and sometimes feel guilty that my affections are transferring to Lupa. Maybe someday a time will come when I don’t cry for him every day. I still picture him lying at the bottom of his grave, lifeless.

Tonight we went to Trudie & Leo’s with her. A new house and a cat…

… almost time for bed but I wanted to share (overshare?) Lupa’s success at visiting Trudie & Leo. Aside from an intense interest in the cat, she was fantastic. For the first little while she wandered around sniffing until eventually she settled down with a bully stick. She was as good as I would expect from an older dog. 🥰❤🐈‍⬛ 

Awesome!

“online visit with Kirsten and Shawn”

“a bit of sunshine”

“everything Lupa today”