Friday, November 27, 2015

Bestest Buddies

One member of the Sheffer clan seems to get very little mention in the normal course of postings. Gretl is a sweet pup who is a bit of an oaf. Most importantly, she is without a doubt, hands down, the Little Girl's very best friend. This is, of course, going to be a fantastic excuse for me to post some goofy pictures of this dynamic duo and their near constant mischief.

Gretl joined the clan during our 2014 road trip because normal people get a dog while on a multi-state journey with an infant in tow. Right? Um, that is what I thought. To be frank, I was not really wanting to get a dog yet. I already had my hands full. However, someone had his heart set on "at least looking to see", so I did agree to stop and look at the dog (the breeder was in Kentucky) just to say no. I should have known better. She was an adorable pup and already housebroken which was one of my major arguments against getting a dog.
I'm gonna wrassle you!
(If we had known that she was full of fleas, I might have had a different answer. Just as a quick PSA, hobby farm animals can come with additional baggage. It was not the end of the world, but it made for an interesting rest of the way home. We had two more stops and about three
Here, you want Mama's water?
days of driving left on the trip.)

Even though I was reluctant at first, I have to say that I am very glad that this fuzz ball is a member of the clan.  For one thing, she and the Little Girl really are the best of friends. Like any best friends or siblings, it can have its downside for the "grownups" around them.
You have an itch? I'll help!
For starters, one of their favorite games involves the Little Girl pushing toys, chairs, or stools all over the living room while chasing Gretl. I can not count the number of times that I have been startled by a loud crash due to Gretl not quite clearing the Fischer Price town while being chased by Noah's Ark
Jail break!
being pushed by a squealing and giggling Little Girl. I can not count the number of times that I have had to use the phrase, "now settle down, or you are not going to be able to play together anymore!" I apparently now have become my mother. It is not a bad thing, but it sort of comes out in the strangest places.

For a long time, we were able to give the girls a time out from each other (and giving Gretl a chance to eat and drink since her dishes are a source of much naughtiness for the Little Girl and need to remain out of reach for now) by having Gretl hang out in her kennel. Then came the day that the Little Girl figured out how to undo both latches. The first time it happened, I thought that I had maybe just forgotten to latch the door. However, I did watch from around the corner and catch photo evidence of the Little Girl busting her buddy out. There is currently a third
latch fastening the door shut, but we all know that it is only a matter of time before someone figures it out as well. We are using the interim to work on getting both girls to behave well enough that we will hopefully be able to just pack the crate away when that day comes.

We do still intend to get Gretl trained as a certified therapy dog and plan to do cart training as well. (The cart training is mostly because I really am too lazy to pull the wagon with kiddo riding in it myself when we go for a walk. I am totally ok with that too. Hopefully it will also help with her oafishness to be doing the work that she was technically bred to do.) I am not sure how her training will go now that the Little Girl is getting enough vocabulary to give commands. Gretl has not really followed her commands at all yet. In her defense, the commands do not exactly sound like the words that she is used to hearing. I give it a couple of months before we really will be expecting her to listen to them.

Ultimately, this post is mostly an excuse to post a bunch of the cute pictures of these two best buddies in the whole wide world. I figure that there might be a few folks out there who would enjoy the bonus pictures that I could not get to work properly in my Thanksgiving post earlier. Have a wonderful weekend!

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