What a Week. . .

Sunday, April 27, 2008

I have this crazy puppy named Ninja. When he was born, his human parents saw that he was almost all black and named him Ninja. When all the other puppies were adopted they were renamed, but when I first saw him, he was Ninja, and as I dreamed about bringing him home, he was always Ninja to me. So that's his name. He lives up to it when he climbs on the black couch (which is strictly forbidden, but he conveniently forgets that.) If he lays on his white tummy, tucks his white paws under, and closes his eyes, you just don't see him there.

The first day of Puppy Training the other adopted parents asked me what his "new" name was. He's just Ninja. Some of them looked at me like I was crazy, but that's his name. Eight months later I think I should have named him Mischief.


I'm stating this blog to document the crazy and wonderful things this pup does. This week has been more on the crazy side and a lot less on the wonderful. I think I'll make separate entries for the actual episodes, but suffice it to say that we have dealt with a most unwelcome rat moving in (and apparently befriended by the pup), Ninja escaping and being chased by a very irate dog catcher (think back to old cartoons and you'll get the idea), and Ninja eating rat poison. Don't worry- we caught it in time and he is OK, thankfully or this would have been a very short blog.

I'll tell you the story of how he came to live with us. It's a good beginning point.

My friend at work invited me and my family to lunch one day, innocently stating we could come visit and see the puppies that had been born a few weeks prior. There was nothing innocent about this as I learned later, although her intentions were the best. I have never had a dog before, but who doesn't love puppies? Sure, they are cute and it would be fun. So off we went on a hot Saturday in late July of last year.

Thirteen Mini Aussie puppies greeted us (as well as the Momma and a sibling from the first litter), and I fell for a large, almost all black puppy named Ninja. He looked like a little bear, and he was so much bigger than his siblings that he would just hip check them out of the way. He would block the dog door by laying half in and half out of it. This pup had me at the first yelp.

The whole trip home I went on and on about this puppy, and my husband reminded me that they were very expensive, and if I really wanted a dog, we should go to the pound and save one. Good guy, my hubby, but I wanted THIS dog.

For the next few weeks I dreamed about this little black tri puppy, with his big eyes and his pretty copper eyebrows and his white tummy. It got worse as my friend's husband brought a couple of the puppies in to work to visit and, of course, there was Ninja cuter than ever. I snuggled him and coworkers asked, "Oh, is he yours?" Still, I couldn't afford the asking price so I sadly said no.

Finally, just about the time they were ready to be adopted and deposits had been made for nearly all of them, I went to my friend and told her I could not live without this puppy. Is there an arrangement we could make? Can I make payments for 10 years? How can I give this baby a wonderful home? She laughed and said that she wanted a dollhouse for her niece for Christmas, and, knowing that I build and collect dollhouses, if I would build her a nice dollhouse I could have the puppy. I was rather floored. You're asking me to do what I love to do most in the world to get what I want most in the world? Umm, yes. That would be fine.

I discovered later that she had wanted him for me the whole time, had "talked down" other potential adoptive parents, even going so far as hiding him in her room when people came to look at the puppies. You see, she likes her friends to get the puppies because then she can see them all the time. She had been afraid in the beginning that no one would want Ninja because he is a bit big for a mini, and has the "wrong" face for showing. But when she saw me bond with him, she knew he was taken care of.

A week later he was delivered to my arms and came home with us. At Christmas I delivered a lovely pink dollhouse, fully decorated with lights, for my friend's niece.


The fun really began when he came home, and our adventures will be shared here. Some of them are a lot more fun than others. . .