26 April 2017

Baby doll...

Angel... Those are the terms that I find myself thinking of. Natasha a.k.a. Tasha slept all night on her little dog bed that I ordered from Amazon. She made no noise and did no pipi or poo-poo in the house... so far. She's too little to go up and down stairs at this point, so we don't have to worry about her wandering all over the house yet.


I need to back off for a while and keep an eye on her. She is a puppy, after all, and they can be willful and destructive. We haven't seen any such behavior over these first 18 hours, though. She is playful this morning, and she knows her name because Isabelle in Chinon taught her to respond to it. Smart dog. Can you see how tiny she is?


When we got home with the puppy around noontime yesterday, we were able to introduce Callie and Natasha to each other out in the back yard. Walt stayed out there with them for a few minutes while I got our lunch ready. Both dogs were mildly curious about each other. I snapped a few photos from the bedroom window. Then they came in. It was all very smooth.


The tamarisk tree is in flower and is pretty right now, but the weather has turned chilly and damp — wouldn't you know it? We hope to be able to spend a lot of time outdoors with the two dogs over the next weeks and months. But it rained all afternoon and evening yesterday, starting around 2:30.


The same thing happened in 2007, when we brought Callie home in early May. After a gorgeous month of April, in May it started raining and we had the wettest summer we've had since we moved here in 2003. Let's hope the whole pattern doesn't repeat itself.

33 comments:

  1. She is a sweetie and it looks like things are going well! I hope Callie is tolerant of her, especially when, and if, she wants to be rambunctious! I think it was a very wise choice to add her to the family!

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  2. I woke up this morning really excited to catch up with your blog! And it was worth it for your pictures. In our experience, Shelties are very intelligent, very attuned and eager to please. So you may avoid most of the bad behaviour puppy problems with Tasha. Do hope you are wrong about a wet summer. We are looking forward to dry and warm Saint-Aignan holidays this year! LOL.

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  3. It is snowing right this minute at our house! I hope it's just a flurry.

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  4. I was looking forward to these pictures: they are lovely!

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  5. My recollection in Paris, all theses years ago, is that the month of May is very wet. Don't remember flurries that late though!

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    1. The sun is shining again now. It was just a giboulée. It's cold now for the season and is supposed to stay cold until next week. Prepare yourself...

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    2. First thing I'll do is put the heat on to get rid of the humidity, and then get confortable after shivering for a while!

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    3. As for May being damp, it was last May when we had all that serious flooding. I hope that doesn't happen again.

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  6. Ohhhh, what a sweety :) I hope Callie really enjoys having another dog to love.

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    1. What a good puppy to sleep so well her first night. I probably would have put her in my bed since she is so little and so sweet. That wouldn't have been a good thing for Callie to witness- Callie is going to need some TLC for a while.

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    2. In bed I'd be afraid I'd roll over on her and injure her. She is so tiny and delicate.

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  7. Replies
    1. Bertie doesn't share much when it comes to feelings or secrets. He and Tasha spent a couple of hours together in the living room this morning. He ignored Tasha, basically, and she seemed to be a little afraid of him. I get the feeling that you think we are not kind to Bertie, but that's far from the truth. I hope he and Tasha become good friends.

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  8. Good news! And, oh, what a darling she is, that sweet Tasha.

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  9. How crazy, it is snowing there ... with all those beautiful Spring flowers everywhere .
    I want that puppy. I am totally in love, long distance .. I remember bringing a puppy into a house with an older cat already part of the family.
    I worried and worried about the cat being upset, the puppy being too rough etc.
    I checked on the cat later that evening and found the puppy asleep in his open crate and the cat curled up next to him.
    They were best friends for 12 years ..

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  10. I thought I had already posted my response to seeing Tasha for the first time.
    She is gorgeous ! She is adorable and I want her. Congratulations on your new baby, she is just lovely.

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  11. Natasha is flat-out adorable. Oh, you are in for some fun.

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  12. Just want to know what were their reactions encountering each other for the first time : Callie seeing another dog and Tasha seeing her new home/surroundings.
    It will be good if she is not scared of Bertie and they get along. Seen so many You Tube videos of playful dogs and cats.
    Who knows, may be Callie will join in. Would be fun being outside and seeing them playing and running around :-)

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    1. When callie and Tasha met in the back yard, Callie was more interested in her tennis ball than the new puppy. And in eating her favorite grass. This morning Callie was slightly jealous of her food bowl and her toys, but it was nothing serious.

      Bertie watches Tasha with interest but has remained detached and typically cat-like. Tasha approaches him cautiously but Bertie stays aloof for now.

      In the house, Tasha keeps exploring. She has periods of playfulness and periods of sleepiness.

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    2. " She has periods of playfulness and periods of sleepiness " .....

      In other words, she is a baby <3
      a gorgeous baby ~

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  13. Tasha sounds like a smart young pup! And adorable. I'm so glad it's been a smooth transition so far. I'm amazed she didn't cry last night. That was our experience for the first three nights. The breeder did a good job with her.

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  14. You're going to have a great time, all of you!

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  15. Sounds like a good beginning. What gorgeous girls you have !

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  16. Ooooow, such an adorable little thing! <3 I hope Callie and Tasha, and Bert and Tasha will all become good friends. Love your pictures!

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  17. With the combined smarts of a Border collie and a Sheltie, you are now in dogdom's equivalent of Mensa. They have already figured out how to wrap adults around their little paws and to elicit international choruses of "squeee!" Next week: Differential calculus.

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    1. I think the two dogs are already communicating in Scottish or North of England dialect! Or maybe that's canine French since both are native to this country.

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  18. funny, tasha looked bigger on walt's blog...until I saw these photos.

    wee girl, pretty big sister, a handsome man, and a gorgeous back yard. what more could anyone want in life? bonne chance a tout!

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