By Popular Demand...

In an informal poll, a full one-third of my loyal readers have asked for a video of the pups (that's you Jenny). I've said that I didn't want to be a full-time dog blogger (dogger?), but with this kind of public response, what can I do? I have to keep the fan happy!



In this video, you can see some of the typical wrastlin' they do. Samson may seem to have the upper hand because of his size, but Lila gives back pretty good. She is also faster and more agile (not to mention more clever and, well, bitchy), so once she gets on her feet, the race is on. The end of the video catches just the beginning of what I like to call the Basenji 500. They'll do laps and laps at top speed.

And yes, we are on the roof, but they are not typical Mexican roof dogs. a) they get to come down. b) they are never there alone, and c) they also go other places. You'll notice on the roof some of the garbage they prefer to expensive toys. They love, LOVE, the paint rollers, but the empty plant pot is also fun too. And no, that is not a pup tent (har har). It's a skylight covered with a shower curtain. My neighbors think it leaks. I reserve comment.

Other than dog stuff, everything in my life is pretty much the same. I've been spending a lot of time at home, partly because I have hermit tendencies, but also because the dogs can't go out much yet (vaccinations) and I feel guilty if I leave them alone too long. I only have a few more weeks until summer vacation (!). I'll be in Alabama and Atlanta for the month of July. I had thought about driving up with the dogs, but three days (and two nights in a hotel) with them might be more than I could stand. Probably not very much fun for them either. So Fernando is going to stay in my apartment for the month, and take care of the kids and I'll fly into Pensacola.

Other good news: when the kids turn four months old (on June 5th), they 'll be able to go to puppy kindergarten! This guy Miguel comes to your house three times a week while you're at work, picks them up and takes them to play with other pups the same age. I don't know if they do arts and crafts or music, but they do get to socialize with other dogs and learn some training basics (sit, stay, bring daddy a beer, etc.) That will be great! (P.S. I shouldn't refer to Miguel as 'this guy'. He's actually a professional dog trainer with lots of experience and references).

If you want to see all the dog pictures, you can look at my web album: http://picasaweb.google.com/the.matt.itat/Dogs

Well, there's been a change...

I don't want to be one of those crazy dog-bloggers, so this will be the last post about the puppies...unless of course they do something extraordinarily cute, pass a major developmental hurdle, or something else equally interesting to the general public. Right.

So, the latest news is that there has been a small change in the naming protocol. The girl pup is still Dalila (pronounced in the Spanish way, da-lee-la) often shortened to Lila (lee-la).

The boy pup has turned out to be at the top of the weight range for the breed, and is generally dumber, less aggressive (although cuter) than Lila. So, he has become Samson (English pronunciation, shortened to Sam).

So there they are Sam & Lila. Most people asked me why I didn't name him Samson as soon as they learned Dalila's name. I had no good answer, so I changed it.

Not that their names make much difference, they don't listen anyway. But now that they have their documents from the vet, it's official at least.

This week has been fun (lots of fun for them) and tiring (for all of us). I'm trying to get them on a schedule of sleepings, feedings and poopings, but of course they have different ideas. I'm still not walking them on the street because they haven't finished getting their vaccinations. Which makes the house training a little more fun.

But they're sweet, and cute, and it's been less than a week since they've come to live with me, so I suppose they'll keep learning, and things will get easier and easier.

Then the fun really begins...

Okay, we decided we should probably take a walk outside to see if anything happens. Jack is busy pulling the couch apart when we start to fashion some kind of leash to each of them.










As you can see, it was a little more complicated. Each one wanted to chew the rope of the other.












Sometimes they wanted to chew their own rope, and the other's rope at the same time.












And then the games truly began....Full Contact Rope Wrestling