And the sun is shining...

It's been a week since Sunshine became part of my family.



Here are some highlights.

1. She shreds anything that's paper. She loves tug of war with rags. And she loves dunking her paws into her drinking bowl, beating at it like a drum (so she drinks from a bottle dispenser now).

2. At first, she slept indoors at the back in my extended dry kitchen, blocked by a play-pen gate from the wet kitchen and the rest of the house. Plenty of room to roam and play. But by the third night, she figured that she could use her puppy power to topple the playpen over - by running, leaping and pouncing on it with her front paws.

So I put her in a cage (courtesy of Uncle JL) in the frontyard, which was one fifth the size of her play-pen area. I threw in her favourite toys and blanket and surprise, surprise. She was quiet and content in her own little 'bedroom'. No crying. No fuss.

3. She would only poo-poo outside her cage. Dogs are clean creatures by nature. Just like how you wouldn't poo in your own bed, she would wait until I let her out in the morning before she did her business in the frontyard. Note: I couldn't paper-train her cos she'd go into a paper-shredding frenzy..

4. By day 5, she knew how to SIT on command.

5. Yesterday, I took her on a day trip to Ipoh. It was quite a production to go outstation with a puppy but she was a good girl. She slept in my arms for most of the journey. In Ipoh, she had a swell time, playing with my godparents' grandchildren, and she met Mandy, Geekchic's lab-rottie mix, a beautiful HUGE dog. They got quite friendly and I'm surprised little Sunshine was not afraid of her at all. I knew I was (she was probably 6 times her size)!

6. Took her to the vet for the first time this morning. She was due for her second shot, but because she developed a rash problem and a little ear infection, the vet decided to give her some antibiotics first, and the jab next week.

On the way home, she started yelping anxiously. Sunshine already poo-pooed in the morning, so I wasn't prepared for what was about to happen.

She jumped out of her basket and sniffed the front seat in circles while I was driving. It could only mean one thing.

SHIT.

I saw her lift her tail and arch her back - and I caught her poo in my left hand just in time. My right was on the steering wheel. I stopped the car to dispose of it. Then wiped my hand on a rag (and threw that away too).

I can still remember the smell and how it felt on my palm.

Well, if I can take her shit, it must be love.