We are lucky to have brought Amber into our family. We need to keep reminding ourselves of that, though, as she is more than a double-handful.
My husband asked yesterday, “When will she be two?” This is in response to the people who have rightly advised us that a lab is a puppy until she’s two. That’s at LEAST two, I think, because she is showing no signs of maturing. She will be two officially March 7th. I’ve warned my husband that there is no hard and fast rule that says that by – or before – the second birthday maturity and calmness descends over the family like a glorious veil.
Her latest antic answered another comment by my husband – “I wish she would bark at strangers. She sucks as a guard dog.”
This morning he went out to add birdseed to the feeders plus the squirrel bottle feeder that is attached to the outside of the dining area window.
All of a sudden Amber saw him, but apparently didn’t recognize him as a member of our family. She instantly was up, paws on the windowsill, barking, hair standing on end over her neck and over her butt, knocking one of my plants off the windowsill. She didn’t hear me yelling at her to stop. I had to physically pull her away from the window, shove her through the doggie gate and close it firmly. She was still growling.
Thankfully, my plant and holder ‘fell’ into the lettuce plants on the card table beside the window, rather than crashing to the floor. I was able to carefully pull it back up and put it on the windowsill again without dumping or hurting the succulent I’ve had for years. The orchid took a dive, but I retrieved it, put an ice cube in it, and placed it back on the sill. I checked to make sure all the other plants were okay and then swept the floor beside the windowsill and under the card table.
My husband came back in, oblivious to the whole thing. When I told him what happened, he looked pleased that Amber had reacted that way to a ‘stranger’ so close to our window. (Usually, she wants to get into the truck with the UPS guy, Fedex lady, or any other delivery people or workmen. At the post office, she wags her tail off at anyone who talks to her.)
I GUESS I’m happy that if we had an intruder, Amber would cause a ruckus and bark loudly, but right now, I’m still shaken over being in the middle of it.
Living for March in hope…..
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