A pooped puppy is better than a poopy puppy

Dieter has a lot of energy—he’s the Energizer Bunny in a brown dog suit. So it seemed like a good idea when my cousin suggested that she bring over Dieter’s little cousin Tessa. “We can let them run around your back yard and then maybe try a short walk,” she said. Sounded like a great idea—burning off some of that pent-up energy. Plus we liked the idea of some supervised puppy play time—Dieter hasn’t had any of that since he graduated from puppy Kindergarten.

Dieter and Tessa started out with a lot of sniffing and then they started running and tumbling. Only thing is:  Dieter outweighs Tessa—who is just 4 months old—by some 30 or so pounds. She held her own though and wasn’t shy about letting the big galoot know when he was being too rough. “grrr-woof-yipe” is pretty much what she said (I might have the spelling wrong, as I’m doing this phonetically). Bless his pointy little snout: Dieter backed off, although the humans were hovering and supervising a lot during the play time, too. The walk also went well. Dieter played the role of trailblazer and Tessa followed in his big-old footsteps.

Then Saturday, my nephew and his family were in town. My 15-year-old great niece couldn’t wait to meet Dieter. Dieter was equally thrilled to meet her. The two of them rolled around on the floor, like they were littermates. Dieter jumped and ran around he was so excited:  “Finally; someone who’ll get down on the floor with me and play and doesn’t shriek when I land on them.”

And what’s the upshot of all these interactions? It DID seem to burn off some of Dieter’s energy. He conked out and slept like a rock after each play episode. He slept like a good little pooped-out  puppy.

9 months and 1 day old.

Oh, and yesterday was Dieter's 9 month birthday. We've got him signed up for a beginning obedience class--no more puppy stuff for him; he needs a good dose of big-boy obedience. Until then though, we might retake the manners class.