Fast forward a few months. Baby daughter, no dummy, she, on the way home from having her braces removed, asks sweetly, "Daddy, could we swing by the dog kennel? They've just had the last batch of puppies from Abbie's mom and dad."
Goldie, the gold poodle mama of Abbie, Fitch and Zoe was about to enter her retirement years. How Baby Daughter learned of this I can only guess.And what do you know? There was a single puppy left unspoken for. The runt, an ugly little brown and black puppy offered to Baby Daughter at a discount rate. I have always said it was because the kennel could not get full price for her. There are others who say the discount was via the business generated by the public appearances of Abercrombie and Fitch.Whatever the reason, the pup came home with us...
Justification = mom shanghied Abbie.
Indoor dog #2 was named Bella. She was so ugly that the Italian word for beautiful just seemed to fit.I was determined this one was not going to take up with me. I ignore her all I could. Abbie was not a bit happy. She developed a special growl for Bella that she uses to this day.
Bella, much like the proverbial ugly duckling developed into a swan...and a handful. She seems to be testing the theory of whether dogs as well as cats, have nine lives. She has drowned, fallen, eaten poison, among other things. Emergency vet bills are just part of the deal with her.
Semester breaks and other holidays and the occasional weekend home reforged the bond with her original Alpha Dog, the Baby Daughter somewhat. Accompanying the baby daughter tothe home of her college roommate's family left Bella pining for Abbie. In spite of the aforementioned special growl, Abbie pined for Bella, too.
The good news: Bella did not take up with me. The bad news. Bella did take up with the Daddy/Prince and with Abbie. Mostly that happened while the baby daughter was away at college. But happen it did. Baby Daughter could not quite declare herself shanghied again but the result was the same.She's going to law school in the fall. She will be living with her college roommate again but this time they won't be together quite so much. The roomie is going to medical school and in anticipation of nights and evenings alone, studying alone in the quiet of an apartment (which sounds wonderful to me) Baby Daughter, once again, could be found seeking companionship of the canine kind.
I am going to go ahead and admit that Abbie has not been without accident or injury altogether. Once she jumped from Prince Daddy's arms onto the driveway and broke her leg, but other wise our years with her have been uneventful. And I will further admit that she's a bit neurotic!
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