Puppies

Over the weekend we drove to Missouri to pick up our new Rhodesian ridgeback puppy, Kassie. She is our third ridgeback and we couldn’t be happier with her.  All puppies come with challenges.  Potty training, teething, integrating into the household when there are other pets, you name it.   We figured we had a handle on the baby stuff, but it was the integration that kind of worried us, especially considering we have another ridgeback, Sunny, who is nine.  Luckily, he’s a sweet boy and Kassie seems welcome just a few days in.  We also have a cat, Nigel, who is a little annoyed at the pushy interloper, but after a few halfhearted hisses, he has walked away and has chosen to ignore Kassie at all costs.  He did the same with the Sunny, and they accept each other now in a gentle, happy manner, and I can only imagine it will go the same with Kassie. 

Sunny is a great dog.  We don’t have to do much but live with him, and to be honest, I have forgotten a lot of his training because he just does what he needs to do to get through the day.  I figure Kassie will be like that, too.  But training her is like starting all over from scratch. 

Training a dog never gets easy, and honestly, neither does writing.  I’m writing my thirteenth novel and some days it feels likes it’s the first, that I don’t know a thing about writing a novel.  And mostly, I don’t.  Not this one.  It’s its own journey.  Other days, the writing glides along because I have experience with it.  I suppose everything is like that if you do it long enough.  But it’s easy to forget the beginning stages of any worthwhile project and the fundamentals that have to be employed.  Sit.  Stay.  Wait.  Leave it.  All great commands to teach a dog and know as a writer…

I’ll probably write more about dogs and ridgebacks in the future, but for now, I have a lot to learn and my hands full with our Kassie.  But I can tell already she’s going to be a good one.

Here’s our three RRs as puppies:

 Brodi 01/01-06/14

Sunny  09/06

Kassi 09/15