I don’t use them much for myself, have stainless steel ones, but with my first puppy I discovered that an empty plastic water bottle is just about one of the best puppy toys ever. They love the noise they make, the way they shoot and roll across the floor, how it feels to bite and eventually destroy them.
We woke up to snow this morning. I knew it was coming, they’d predicted it so I wasn’t surprised. In the minutes before you woke, whined to be let out to go potty, I wondered if the ground would be too cold for your tiny feet. I started to worry, “what will I do if he won’t go potty outside?” I make elaborate plans involving the garage and a pee pad that end up being completely unnecessary.
As soon as I put you down, you bury your face in the cold white, stretch out on your belly making an upside down puppy snow angel. After you go potty, you root your nose deep like a little piglet, making crazy paths in the snow, hopping around the yard like a tiny fox, a true Colorado boy.
When you pause, sit and look up at me, I notice your ears are working hard to stand up, that you are bigger than even last night. Tomorrow it’s supposed to be 52 degrees and sunny. Both this snow and your time as a puppy will be over so soon.
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 