Chapter Two: Joy to the World

Monday, Dec. 21

Dog Oh Dog, am I ever a pooped puppy tonight. This Christmas stuff is exhausting. This morning we went shopping at Loblaws for Christmas treats. TBC and Margi arrived back at the car laden down with good smelling stuff. No kibbles, though. I keep looking at the bag of kibbles in the kitchen nervously. It is more than half empty. What if we run out during the holidays? Maybe I should get a tiny crutch, and wave it gaily in the air. Then everybody would feel sorry for me, and on Christmas Eve Uncle Scrooge could arrive with a huge goose stuffed with puppy chow and I would eat it all myself.

No sooner were we home from shopping for Christmas groceries when Nancy arrived, and she made a big fuss over me. But I do NOT sound like a parakeet, Nancy. Then we started to decorate the Christmas tree. This involved getting all sorts of fascinating stuff out of boxes and hanging it on the tree. I was supposed to stay in the sunroom and watch. Naturally, I protested vociferously, with considerable success, until I attempted to sample Nancy's glass of Bailey's Irish Cream, and sort of knocked it over and everybody shrieked, and I tried to lick it up and The Big Cheese stuck my head under the water tap. That really wasn't necessary. I could have cleaned it all off my whiskers myself. So then everybody laughed, and I ended up watching the rest of the proceedings from the sunroom. They kept finding bits of tinsel which they threw out, along with some red berries which TBC said he had read someplace were poisonous.

When we eventually finished decorating the tree, we went outside and started putting up more lights and bows and stuff, and Nancy and I played chase for about half an hour. She is really good at playing chase, and she thinks I have some pretty fast moves. Then a big dinner to welcome Nancy home. After dinner we all dozed on the chesterfield in front of the fire and watched a skating special on TV while Nancy scratched my stomach.

Tuesday, Dec. 22

It has suddenly turned really cold. That frozen ground is tough on puppy paws. I was just as glad that they left me at home when they went out to do some last minute Christmas shopping. And The Big Cheese staggered home with an enormous bag of puppy chow. Twenty pounds. Five times my own weight. That's as if he brought home a 600 lb. Turkey for himself. Probably an appropriate suggestion. Ha ha. Ha ha ha. Just kidding. My Tiny Tim image must have worked. Well, it is a relief to have that in the cupboard. Now, all we need to do is get it into my bowl. Perhaps we could rig a miniature conveyor belt from the cupboard to my bowl in the laundry room, and every time I turned it on, the kibble would start to pour into my dish.

Remember when I said that when Nancy came home she would show The Big Cheese how to add fancy links? Well, one of the links that I think is fun is The Terrier Club. Just don't look at the statistics. "Chunkiest" Cairn? Thirty pounds!!! That's not a cairn. That's a tank! A beige coloured tank. Check it out at http://www.rafischer.com/club/terrier.htm

Can't write long. We are getting ready for John and Betty (the other two members of the family) to arrive from Ottawa tomorrow and there are packages to wrap and things to arrange. Gotta go.

Wednesday, Dec. 23

Oh Wow! FIVE people to pay attention to me. This is great. And I have been so well behaved, remembering to use the papers every time, that I got to sit in front of the fire in the living room for 3 hours or so while everybody chatted and did a 3 dimensional puzzle. Mind you, they wouldn't let me near the puzzle and I am sure I could have been a big help. Then after dinner we all sat in the family room and they let me run around on the carpet and chew on people. They all think I am adorable, which shows good judgement. If I don't have time to write a journal entry for a couple of days.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY

Friday, Dec. 25

And a very merry Christmas it was. Katharine, Betty's mother arrived for dinner on Christmas Eve, and then I had SIX people to play with. After the requisite hour of playing with Hamish, they all sat down for a huge turkey dinner with water chestnut stuffing and baked potatoes and artichokes and gravy and salad and chocolate cake. Mind you, that is all second hand hearsay evidence, since I was demonstrating what a perfectly behaved puppy I am by napping in the kitchen. Then back to the living room to sit in front of the fire and play games. We opened a few presents, and I was supposed to open one of mine, but I got tired and went to sleep. I guess every one else did too, because the next thing I knew it was Christmas morning and we all sat in the living room again and spent a long time opening presents. I got a stuffed mouse which plays Felice Navidad when I bite its stomach, and a kong and a frisbee. I like them all. The greatest thing is that they are letting me down on the carpet in the living room, and letting me into the family room. They keep telling me what a great puppy I am to be using the papers all the time despite all the excitement. Of course, tomorrow is Friday. No, today was Friday. Maybe I have overcome my Friday jinx. Anyway, after lunch we went down to the beach, where I suppose I should have played with my frisbee, but climbing the cliff was a lot more interesting. The creek was frozen, and I walked out on the ice, but it was very slippery and everyone was yelling at me. Then we went back inside and up to the study where TBC and Nancy and John played with the computer games which they got for Christmas while I went very soundly asleep on a pillow in the middle of the floor. I was dreaming about eating Christmas dinner, and I guess I must have been talking in my sleep until TBC woke me up to make sure that I wasn't having a petit mal seizure. Then we sat around in the living room some more and played a game called Outburst that TBC had bought at a garage sale for 50 cents and then another huge turkey dinner, and now everyone is watching The Willows in Winter while I am updating my web page.

Sat. Dec. 26

Boxing Day. Katharine has left, but Rob, Nancy's boyfriend has arrived. It is difficult to keep all these people straight, but as long as they all pay attention to me and like me it is alright. Rob invented a new game which involves spinning around on his butt on the kitchen floor while I chase him in circles. And Nancy likes sliding my sheep across the floor and watching me launch myself after it. What will it be like when it is just me and Margi and The Big Cheese again? Dull, that's what. At least I will be able to get caught up on my nap time. They are either letting me in the rooms where I am not usually allowed a lot, or else forgetting to close the doors. It is fun hiding beneath beds and armchairs and then jumping out at people to scare them. I did this to Margi this morning and she barked back at me and scared me half to death.

Speaking of being scared to death, TBC and I went for a walk before bed and met a cocker spaniel who kept barking at us. I was pretty worried. I wasn't sure that I could defend TBC if the spaniel followed up on his threats. He (The Big Cheese, that is) seemed a lot less worried about this than I was, and he eventually picked me up, but this is a mean spaniel.

The lake has been really rough for the last couple of days. It is sort of nice to lie in my crate beside the bed at night, safe and warm and secure, and listen to the pounding of the waves.

Monday, Dec.28

Ah, this is what life is supposed to be like for a cairn terrier puppy. The day started off with a new adventure, which I hadn't really planned. As usual, TBC carried me downstairs and gave me my meager breakfast. While he was getting his breakfast, I nosed into the hall and decided to climb up the first step of the stairs. From there, it looked a long way down, so I climbed the next step, and the next and the next. From the landing, it looked an even longer way down. I gave a yip of excitement, which everybody ignored, and kept going. At the top, I rushed into the bedroom to show Margi what a great climber I was. She thought TBC had forgotten to carry me downstairs. Meanwhile, he had finally finished making his breakfast and started looking for me. I wasn't in the kitchen, or the laundry room, or the hall. The door to the living room was open, but I wasn't in the living room or the sunroom, and I wasn't hiding behind the Christmas tree or under the living room sofa. At this point he came upstairs to tell Margi that I was lost, and there I was in the bedroom. Dog, was he surprised!

Spent the morning napping in the kitchen and playing with Rob and Nancy, and then after lunch we all went down to the beach for a good romp. The snow and ice have all melted, and the lake was calm, so I didn't need to worry about the waves. Next they all went off someplace, leaving me home alone. That wasn't a great part of the day, but I can understand that if Nancy and Rob are in the back seat there is no room for my crate, and they are leaving tomorrow. In the evening we all sat in the family room and watched a movie. It didn't have any dogs in it, but they left me free to wander in and out of the room, so when I got bored having my ears scratched or snuggling up on the sofa, I could wander out into the kitchen and chew on a toy for a few minutes, or attack my sheep, and then come back for another round of petting. I sure will miss Rob and Nancy, but Nancy is coming back next Monday for another week.

Tuesday Dec. 29

Hi Nancy. I sure miss you guys. I keep going up to TBC and Margi and yipping at them, and they say things like, "What, you think we have nothing better to do all day then play with you? You have a whole box of toys over there". Is that any way to treat a cairn terrier puppy? Especially a cairn terrier puppy whose favourite person has just deserted him? I still don't understand why you had to leave. When I start obediance school, will I have to go away too?

We watched a good program with dogs in it on TV tonight. I went up to the speaker to see where the barking was coming from, but the dogs didn't seem to be anywhere around. Then there was a commercial with waffles in it, and I went up and licked the screen, but it didn't taste like waffles. TV is a bit of a puzzle. If you can't eat it or make friends with it, what good is it? Come back and explain these things to me Nancy.

Wednesday, Dec. 30

Now that I have learned to go up stairs, I do it all the time. Mostly when no one is watching. The only problem is, I don't know how to come down. Sometimes, I think TBC leaves me up there on purpose. Like last night when Margi was out. She came home, and I wasn't there to greet her like I should have been. So all I could do was yip frantically until someone came upstairs and carried me down. That was embarrassing.

Friday, January 1, 1999

Well! Cairn terriers don't think much of New Year's Eve. Not only did TBC and Margi go shopping in the afternoon, leaving me at home alone because they said it was too cold, but they also abandoned me for the entire evening. When they did eventually arrive home, they were ready for bed, and seemed to think that I would be too, which was just plain stupid. What did they think I had been doing all evening? So I protested loudly, and the next thing I knew I had been picked up, crate and all and banished to the study. Is there no justice in this world? Did it never occur to them that Hamish Magruder might like to celebrate his first New Year with HIS friends?

Today was a lot better. We all spent a lot of time sitting around in front of the fireplace in the family room, and then TBC cooked a big New Year's dinner, and I was allowed into the dining room for the first time. Even better, the barrier between the family room and the kitchen has been taken down permanently. Before dinner, we went down to the beach. The creek has frozen over, and there is frozen slush out and around the point. I could have raced for a long way, but they wouldn't let me off my leash. Apparently TBC has traumatic memories about jumping into freezing water up to his neck to rescue a previous dog who had fallen through the ice, and says that he is too old to repeat the experience.

Saturday, January 2

.

Gracie! Good old Gracie. We went up to London this morning and found this huge room covered with rubber mats with a bunch of other puppies in it, and then Gracie walked in. I almost didn't recognize her. She must have done something to her hair. Instead of having a black coat, it has gone all brindle. I think she was glad to see me too, and we got to spend 15 or 20 minutes wrestling. It was just like old times. We were supposed to socialize with the other dogs, but rolling around on the floor with my old litter mate was what I really wanted to do. The people who run the place (Doug and Linda Hamilton) have some strange ideas about puppies coming when called and heeling and stuff. Why should I waste time with this sort of nonsense when Gracie was there to play with? Still, they believe in something called treat training which I could sort of get to like.

TBC says that there is a big winter storm on the way. It is snowing like crazy now. If this keeps up overnight, the snow will be over my head by tomorrow morning.

Sunday, January 3

So now I know why I have such big paws. I can walk around on top of the snow like a snowshoe rabbit. Is that ever neat. We got about 6 inches, and I wouldn't want to have to tunnel through it. Cold on the nose, you know.

Actually, I am a pretty stuffed c.t. this evening. It seems that TBC has bought into this Treats for Tricks thing, and he has had me racing over the house all day to get kibbles. This may not sound very dignified, but you know me and kibbles. When he calls me, I have to find him, and then run up to him with my tail wagging wildly and my ears pricked up and a look of happy expectancy on my face. And then, get this, I have to SIT DOWN. And then he gives me a kibble. So alright, I abase myself. Look, a kibble is a kibble, and in this household you do what you have to do to get them.

Tuesday, January 5

Nancy's Back! She arrived on the train Moyhuhday (oops, I stepped on the keyboard) at noon, and we went up to London to pick her up. Now I have 3 people to play with me and fuss over me and pet me. This is great.

Well, gotta go. Nancy may need playing with.

Thursday, Jan7

It has been great having Nancy around again. She never says that she is too busy to play with me, and I love sitting in her lap, except that I am getting to be such a big dog that I sort of hang over on each side.

We have had more snow. I was out on the deck yesterday with TBC while he was doing something incomprehensible with the Christmas tree. It is a strange fetish. Anyway, I got a bit bored and jumped off into the snow which was over my head in places. Five minutes later TBC came looking for me. He followed my tracks but couldn't find me. Then he called for me to come, so I stuggled out of the snowdrift that I was in and found him. Not that I was lost, or anything, but all this snow can be a bit disorienting. "Come" is actually my favourite game these days.

TBC and Margi and Nancy are planning something big Saturday night, but I haven't quite figured out what. It seems to involve a lot of tidying up, and shoveling parking spaces, and Rob is coming back for it, which has Nancy all excited.

Saturday, January 10

This has to have been the most tiring day of my entire life. At least I know now what a "party" is. It is when you invite a huge bunch of people over to pet your cairn terrier and scatter crumbs on the floor. A great idea. I think we should do it every week.

The day started with another session with Gracie and the other dogs. Gracie is so tough. She kept pinning me to the floor. Just because she is older than I am she thinks she can beat up on me. But I got in some good tussling. Then we all practiced coming and heeling and sitting and all that stuff. I did pretty well, but it was exhausting, and as soon as we got home everyone started rushing around to get ready for the party and they let me go anywhere I wanted in the house and I forgot and shat in the middle of the dining room but it was O.K. because the guests hadn't started to arrive yet.