Precious Pup No. 4 PART B

It was fun watching Tess get used to new things in her world. She had a routine that she followed each time something new presented itself:

1. Look at it intensely and dare it to move
2. Paw at it, if it moves jump back quickly and start all over again until it is safe to continue to point 3.
3. If no movement then sniff it
4. Having deemed it safe, time to taste test. If death does not occur immediately then it must be edible.

The two very memorable times when his occurred. The first time I was having a bubble bath. I had only had Tess a week but I was most definitely hers and was not to be out of her sight. Learning quickly that a crack in the doorway can be made wider by pushing, in trundled Tess to see what I was up to. Some bubbles fell on the floor when I moved (yeah I had it pretty bubbly). She stopped and stared at it. Every now and then a small bubble would burst. After a while (all thoughts about me forgotten) she starting pawing at it. More bubbles burst. She sat down and watched. Every now and then her gaze would lift up and see me surrounded by this white stuff. If she wanted to get to me she had to conquer the white stuff. She moved in cautiously, took a big sniff, and sneezed 3 times. Well that didn't hurt. It was time for the final test, and it tasted great. After finishing off the small amount left she attempted to join me in the bath. She was too little so chose to just stand there and lick the bubbles instead.

About a month later the following happened:

It was a nice sunny day and Tess and Rambo ventured out into the back yard. Rambo to walk the perimeter and make sure every thing was ship shape and secure; Tess to hinder his every move by biting his ear or his paws or lean on his back. As the afternoon wore on clouds came over and a very light mist of rain started to fall. Rambo decided it was time to head inside. Tess followed, but she hadn't seen rain before so she decided to stand under cover of the porchand watch. Rambo stood at the door and watched what she was doing. Out went her paw. "Hmm that was wet!" Out went her nose for a little sniff but quickly came back in as was hit with little droplets of water. Out went the tongue, "It's just water, I drink this stuff." And so my blond poodle decided she was thirsty and tried to lick all the rain in as it fell. Rambo by now had literally shaken his head, said "youngin's" and walked inside. Tess then decided that being on the porch was not letting her get a decent mouthful so she ran out into the rain and dig zig zags all over the back yard with her tongue hanging out.

Why she doesn't like water now I will never know!

The picture at the top is one that I took after her first professional haircut (yeah I gave it a go and it took over 4 hours though she did sit very happily for me-I even had to wake her to move her). In this picture she is about to jump out at me. I told her to wait one more time and it turned out to be the best shot. As soon as I said okay, she flew at me and gave me a hug. She loves her mum.