sidekick sonia

Mei mei has been on permanent vacation at our house for the past year or so. Actually, she's basically moved in. My parents used to take care of her for a week or two at a time for my sister-in-law and my brother; then they'd bring her back to their place in Toronto, but now it's all reversed. Her parents still love her, but they live in a downtown condo, which is not the preferred setting for Mei mei. There aren't any nice parks around to visit and there are usually too many people on the crowded streets for her liking. Plus, there's not much room to stretch in a tiny sub-800 sq. foot place with two adults living in it already.

Mei mei's in better shape now. She's lost a bit of her chubbiness because she gets to run about the house and chase the squirrels out in the backyard. She's also met the neighbours, but remains the snob that she was when she lived at the condo, preferring her own very close circle of friends and family to any outsiders (unless you give her food, of course). It's nice for my dad to have a walking partner and it's nice too to cuddle up on the couch with her to watch tv at night.

The only problem is, Mei mei likes yapping - it's her favourite thing to do, next to eating and sleeping. She just won't stop yapping at the mailman, or the girl who delivers the paper, or anyone or anything that catches her eyes or ears. How can we get her to stop?

CAN old dogs learn new tricks?

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I've seen this guy on the subway a couple of times now. He brings his 3 or 4 toy pomeranians with him on walks or whatever...all the women gush and goo at the cute little dogs while he smiles smugly until someone asks him a question. The dogs aren't ever on leashes, but happily follow him wherever he goes.

You think, wow, they're so adorable and well-behaved, and for little dogs, they sure don't bark much! The first time I saw this guy, a woman started having a conversation with him about one particular dog. It was all going well until the owner said, "Well, yes, she's so great, especially after I got her de-barked. It's just so much better now because she doesn't annoy the neighbours anymore."

At which point the woman smiled wanly at the man and stopped petting the dog. Everybody else turned away - my own stomach was turning itself over...

How could anyone do that to a dog? As much as Mei mei yaps and yaps, I would never think of cutting off her vocal cords.

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We are now shopping for new dog food...

For those of you who own pets out there and feed them IAMS, please check out this site first before buying your next bag of pet food: Uncaged Campaigns

posted by Sonia @ 11:42 a.m.