Mags
When Louis and I first started dating, I had no idea how much of an impact it would have on my life that he had two daughters. Two TEENAGE daughters. While the transition hasn't been seamless, it has been as smooth as possible, as far as smooth goes for "blended" families. I still quite often get the hilariously stupid comments from strangers, "OH! You don't look old enough to have two teenage daughters!". Oh, I also don't look ANYTHING like either of them. We always smile and nod, but part of me is tempted to say, "Oh, they're adopted", or to have one of the girls yet, "She's not my mother!!!" and storm away. We'll see one day.
I'll write more about them later, but the family member that's on my mind today, is little Maggie. She's a shitzu, and yes, she's part of the family. Louis gets shared custody of the dog too. Wherever the girls go, Maggie goes.
Maggie, is probably one of the funniest dogs I've been around in a long time. She is very obedient (unless she's around another dog...then she's insane). She is always happy to walk to the grocery store with me, even if it means getting stuffed in my purse while we're shopping (I'm scared someone will steal her!). Also - she's been THE PERFECT companion when I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with....family. I'm an only child and sometimes I found the (normal) chaos of family too much. The first time I felt like this I went to bed early, the next rotation I decided to use Maggie as an excuse, go for a walk, and come back feeling more normal. It's worked 100% of the time.
A few things about Maggie:
She is scared of everything. When she got a set of metallic food/water bowls, she stopped eating and drinking all together. Like FOR DAYS. Finally they realized that it was because she could sort of see her reflection in them.
She is also scared of stairs. YES, stairs. But....she forgets sometimes. So we'll be on our way back from a walk, climbing the two sets of stairs to the third floor, and she'll FREEZE. It's like she has PTSD and has a flashback. I'll tug at her leash, and she'll ever-so-slowly walk up the stairs, always ensuring that three feet are on the ground at all times. Other times, she'll be oblivious and run up/down...like normal.
And then, last rotation I got to experience the fear of thunderstorms. This dog was out of control. Her eyes became these beady little round circles bulging so far out of her head I thought they might fall out. She wanted to be picked up, but would immediately want to go back down. I sat her on my lap and tried to hold her, she then went to the arm of the couch. She balanced there somehow, trying to decide what to do, and at one point trying to jump from the arm of the couch to go ON TOP of the kitchen table. Oh! I forgot to mention when we came home mid-thunderstorm, her food was all over her cage and her little dog blanket was on the wrong side. It's like she had some kind of seizure in there!
Maggie has a cage that she loves and hates. She loves to hang out there, but she'll "ask" for permission to go in. She'll stand in front of the cage and whine or bark, until someone says, Go Maggie! Go! Go! Go! Go in there!. She stays there at night as well. Some nights she'll whine or cry....so...we'll let her out (okay, it's just me that lets her out and I know I'm creating a bad behavior...).
Anyway, she is super adorable, and all her little quirks make her even cuter. Even when she's having some kind of panic attack because her water isn't as fresh as she likes it (she'll bark and bark if her water isn't cold enough. This is NOT something I started).
These pictures, from this website have me thinking about Maggie today. I am surprised that these kinds of things even exist...never mind that people would pay $300-600 for them.
As Louis was quick to point out, if we got Maggie one for Christmas, the top bunk would obviously be for guests only, unless there's a model that comes with an elevator....
I'll write more about them later, but the family member that's on my mind today, is little Maggie. She's a shitzu, and yes, she's part of the family. Louis gets shared custody of the dog too. Wherever the girls go, Maggie goes.
Maggie, is probably one of the funniest dogs I've been around in a long time. She is very obedient (unless she's around another dog...then she's insane). She is always happy to walk to the grocery store with me, even if it means getting stuffed in my purse while we're shopping (I'm scared someone will steal her!). Also - she's been THE PERFECT companion when I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with....family. I'm an only child and sometimes I found the (normal) chaos of family too much. The first time I felt like this I went to bed early, the next rotation I decided to use Maggie as an excuse, go for a walk, and come back feeling more normal. It's worked 100% of the time.
A few things about Maggie:
She is scared of everything. When she got a set of metallic food/water bowls, she stopped eating and drinking all together. Like FOR DAYS. Finally they realized that it was because she could sort of see her reflection in them.
She is also scared of stairs. YES, stairs. But....she forgets sometimes. So we'll be on our way back from a walk, climbing the two sets of stairs to the third floor, and she'll FREEZE. It's like she has PTSD and has a flashback. I'll tug at her leash, and she'll ever-so-slowly walk up the stairs, always ensuring that three feet are on the ground at all times. Other times, she'll be oblivious and run up/down...like normal.
And then, last rotation I got to experience the fear of thunderstorms. This dog was out of control. Her eyes became these beady little round circles bulging so far out of her head I thought they might fall out. She wanted to be picked up, but would immediately want to go back down. I sat her on my lap and tried to hold her, she then went to the arm of the couch. She balanced there somehow, trying to decide what to do, and at one point trying to jump from the arm of the couch to go ON TOP of the kitchen table. Oh! I forgot to mention when we came home mid-thunderstorm, her food was all over her cage and her little dog blanket was on the wrong side. It's like she had some kind of seizure in there!
Maggie has a cage that she loves and hates. She loves to hang out there, but she'll "ask" for permission to go in. She'll stand in front of the cage and whine or bark, until someone says, Go Maggie! Go! Go! Go! Go in there!. She stays there at night as well. Some nights she'll whine or cry....so...we'll let her out (okay, it's just me that lets her out and I know I'm creating a bad behavior...).
Anyway, she is super adorable, and all her little quirks make her even cuter. Even when she's having some kind of panic attack because her water isn't as fresh as she likes it (she'll bark and bark if her water isn't cold enough. This is NOT something I started).
As Louis was quick to point out, if we got Maggie one for Christmas, the top bunk would obviously be for guests only, unless there's a model that comes with an elevator....
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