....and all was quiet throughout the house.
For the past few nights, Savannah has been sleeping peacefully. Translation: I have been sleeping peacefully. The first morning I came downstairs after a full night's sleep (after last week of Savannah's constant night-time barking) I said out loud in the kitchen "Did someone come in here and kidnap Savannah during the night?" All I got in response to that was a big brown-eyed stare from Savannah and then a huge yawn followed that. Apparently, the Puppy Princess was not amused.
There have been an extraordinary number of coyotes out in the fields lately. I don't remember this population explosion of coyotes happening this early in the season during previous years, but clearly, due to the vicious-sounding howling after midnight, those heartless creatures are certainly out there. And yes, I believe they're heartless because they will attack any living animal that they come across.
The coyotes sounded so close last night that I thought they were right behind our barn. I turned on the back porch light as soon as I heard them and then I got the big flash-light and pointed that in the direction of that part of the property. I didn't see anything, but possibly the porch light scared them off. Savannah barked at the coyotes when they first started up, and I thought we'd be in for another long night of barking, but she was quiet for the rest of the night.
This morning during our walk, Savannah's nose hit the ground as soon as we got out to the road and she didn't lift that nose up till we had gone all the way up the hill. Apparently, last night's band of coyotes were up and down our road here. When we reached the end of the road, Savannah looked around and seemed to realize why we were out there in the first place and she got down to business. Honestly, she is the most easily distracted dog I've ever come across. Well, not exactly a dog. She is still basically a puppy. And I don't think her one-year birthday on April 12th will be the end of her puppy-hood. I really believe that she won't settle down into a mature dog until she's nearly two years old. That's my prediction, and I will be positively thrilled to pieces if I'm proved wrong.
After Savannah's assault on her plush and very expensive bed last week, I've sewn up all the holes she made, and one corner of her rectangular-shaped bed is definitely flatter than the other three because I didn't bother replacing the stuffing she pulled out. I turned Savannah's bed around and now the damaged part is right in the corner of the wall and hardly noticeable. I'm hoping that Savannah will forget about chewing her bed because I don't plan to replace it until I'm sure that she's definitely out of the chewing stage.
I don't know what on earth possessed Savannah last week to turn into a wild-child. My friend Cindy also has a puppy just about Savannah's age. His name is Jack and he's a mix of Black Lab and Great Pyrenees. Cindy and her husband have had dogs over the years but when we got Savannah, they were dog-less, after their much-loved dog Kate died over a year ago. One look at Savannah and Cindy was hooked, even though Savannah's cautious nature kept her from getting too close to Cindy when they first met. We tried to get in touch with the previous owners of Savannah to see if the other puppy (Savannah's brother) was still available for adoption, but they never got back to us with an answer.
My husband searched the Internet for puppies similar to Savannah's mix, trying to find a good puppy for Cindy. He found a litter of Black Lab/Great Pyrenees puppies whose owners were just giving them away to good homes. Cindy and her husband drove into the next town to have a look-see and fell in love with an all-black puppy. They named him Jack and brought that happily-wagging bundle of puppy to their home. After three baths to get rid of his fleas, Jack came here to meet Savannah. Unlike Savannah, Jack loves everyone at first sight, and every person he meets is immediately his best friend. I found myself wishing that some of Jack's friendliness would rub off on Savannah, but that's not going to happen. Savannah is extremely particular about picking her friends, and it took her nearly three months to warm up to Cindy, who is here twice a week every week, and sometimes more. To this day, Savannah has yet to make friends with most of our neighbors.
Last week when Savannah was acting out, so was Jack... and both Cindy and I were wondering if the full moon had anything to do with their strange behavior. While Jack was in his yard pulling up shrubs and small plants, Savannah was here pulling the stuffing out of her bed and barking at every blessed leaf-drop in the middle of the night. Maybe during such a full moon, our planet is abnormally tilted and not in sync with the universe and common sense and appropriate behavior dissolve into the atmosphere.
Cindy and I have also been wondering what could have possessed us to get puppies (puppies!) at this stage of our lives. There have been countless articles and studies written about pet-owners having lower blood pressure and living longer than people without pets. Personally, I think the people who wrote those articles were writing during a full moon when our planet was abnormally tilted and not in sync with the universe...
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