New Puppy

I am supposed to be working on a way to do a quick and easy "semiotics for dummies" for my students tomorrow, but since there really is no way to introduce semiotics except to go the long and painful route, I am going to jettison that effort in favor of blogging about our new puppy.

Our new puppy is named Virginia Woof (a name my husband picked out long before we even had a dog), and she is a 5 month old Boston Terrier. We obtained her from a breeder--working with a breeder was a completely new experience for me, as I've usually in the past bought animals from the pound who have no apparent bonds with other humans--one of the perks of this arrangement (that I have a new appreciation for) is that people who have become attached to the dog do not call you for weeks afterward asking after the pet's health and temperament. In our case, the breeders consider their dogs and their respective litters to be like children, and so cutting the cord has proven to be rather difficult for them even though the check cleared about a week ago. That said, I don't mind giving an update once in a while, but really, what those updates amount to are something along the lines of, "yes, she's still teething, yes, she's still going on the floor, and yes, I'm still not going to take her up to my office with me so that she can spend every waking hour with me--she'll get over it."

Our new puppy came with several semi-promises, including that she was "semi" lead trained and "semi" potty trained. I've since learned that being "semi" potty trained is kind of like being a "little bit pregnant," as in, ain't no such damn thing. "Semi" potty trained means that Virginia goes when she needs to go wherever she happens to be at the time--if that somewhere happens to be outside, then so be it--I guess that's the semi-part--she gets it right about %50 percent of the time. But hey, it's kind of like that "acceptance of approximations" phase I tell my pedagogy students about--sometimes you have to recognize that "errors" are merely fumbles on the way to mastering the skill. But that may be a bad comparison after all, because teaching writing generally involves less lysol and fewer unpleasant smells...generally.

However, our new puppy is as cute and loving as she can be--all ears and big, inquisitive dark eyes. She loves to nap with us and makes us laugh by doing all kinds of cute puppy things to get a treat. So, despite any frustration with her learning curve, we are more than happy with our new four legged addition to the family.