Sweeney Update
Sweeney Sporting the Sweater Kenwyn Knitted for Him
It’s bittersweet watching Sweeney grow big and strong enough that he can now easily vault himself onto the couch while holding a squeaky toy in his mouth. I understand why people keep having children–or getting new puppies. There’s something seductive in someone needing you so much that the sun rises and sets in your face.
Since he’s been here, we’ve taught him not to chew on pant legs, my robe, the rug, the couch, and the handles of the kitchen cabinets. Still working on zippers, shoelaces, and tasty molding with stalactites of paint just jutting out and waiting for a nibble.
It’s fascinating watching someone grow up and experience everything for the first time. How he can pay rapt attention to an empty yogurt container skittering on the tiled kitchen floor, gauging how it moves, smells, tastes.
He hasn’t finished his vaccinations yet, so he’s still in solitary for at least the next two weeks. He can’t take walks outside, and he can’t play with other dogs. Which means that by three in the afternoon he’s like a friggin’ lunatic with boredom, no matter how many romps we have and no matter how many games I invent. I think I may not be as smart as my dog, because his zest for play has outstripped my ability to reinvent the same environment and the same toys. I understand why people buy twenty toys. We have twelve, and he’s dead bored of all of them. We hide them and bring them back into circulation every few days, so they’ll seem new. Yesterday I amused him with a cotton drawstring bag.
That said, he’s a capable little fellow and invents his own challenges. He’s improved on a simple game of fetch by playing hide-and-seek with the toys; he stuffs them under the couch and then goes crazy trying to get them out again. I think it’s amazing that he’s just shy of three months old and has already learned the ‘sit’ command. We’re still working on coming to us when we call him, though. He obeys that one when he wants to.
