In which I muse on puppies

Exhausting--end of musing. I had forgotten HOW exhausting. The little miscreants have actually been pretty good about destruction, just the odd basket here and there that's been gnawed and, of course, my favorite table. It's our kitchen table and I bought it at an antiques store on Hildebrand in San Antonio. The ONE piece of furniture I would really prefer them not to put a tooth on. Anyway, it's nothing a little sanding and paint won't fix, and it doesn't bother me nearly as much as if they had gotten hold of my shoes. Emma the Yellow Wonder Dog NEVER touched shoes or clothes or books--in fact, her only destructive behavior was a section of drywall that she thought was rather tasty. It sounds bad to say your dog ate the wall, doesn't it?

But a bit of jalapeno juice changed her mind--on the advice of the vet, of course. Jalapeno juice doesn't FAZE these pups. They like it--in fact, I caught them licking off tabasco sauce and looking up expectantly for more, wagging their tails. We tried everything the vet suggested to no avail; I think they eventually got tired of chewing and have moved on to general stroppiness. Their favorite game is to pounce on each other and wrestle to the death, but we've had to put a stop to it because they were spayed and neutered last week. (Yes, while I was in DC because my husband said, "Hey, I'll be home anyway. Book the surgery and I'll take care of it." A lovely and masochistic offer that I think he deeply regretted.) Anyway, we've had to keep them separated so they won't inadvertently tear out each other's stitches, and it's KILLING them. We put them together for short periods when they're leashed, but they are desperate to play. The only safe place to let them hang out is the car. For reasons that defy explanation, they are always perfectly calm and loving to each other in the car--no barking, no pouncing, no whining. They will curl up together and groom one another and it gives us hope that ONE DAY they will be able to hang out just as nicely in the house. Maybe.

Also, I've been tinkering STILL with comments and I *think* they're fixed now...