During the last night of old dog Blair’s life I sat on the floor helping him get water and soothing him with pats on the head, while our young dog Lulu got her first bout of freedom sleeping without being locked in her crate.
While sitting with Blair, Lulu nuzzled up to me with her cute little beady brown eyes and looked at me in a way that I knew she was trying to tell me something. It was time. It was time to let him go.
With tears streaming down my cheek and with a crackly voice, I said, “Ok Lulu. Are you ready to be top dog?”
Since then this young whippersnapper dog of ours has gone up in the four-legged ranks of our family. And with more freedom to roam about the house, she (who will be two-years-old this spring) has become the top chewing dog of all things organic and natural.
This dog of mine has chewed the hands off of a wool Waldorf doll, the wooden feet off of two wool unicorns for fairies, and the wool turnip, tomato and cabbage from a set of large organic wool play food.
She has also snacked on wooden play eggs, wool and jute rugs, and took a bite out our Christmas doormat. I find that last one very metaphoric, as I found the mat with a bite taken out of the word Joy. Lucky for her, I just laughed it off.
There is something in me that just really wants my children to grow up with pets. They add so much fun-loving life to our family, and I have felt that way since I was a little girl when I would venture out to find stray cats in the woods to bring home. With that said, I’m a pet lover. Which is why I have so much tolerance for our wool eating, wood chomping, book devouring dog.
She goes for art supplies too – crayons that are whittled out of sticks from nature, ones that were melted and made into new shapes, paintbrushes, and pencils. Really, we should get her into some art classes to release all this artistic energy!
My oldest daughter had a Christmas present under the tree that she made for her middle sister. It was a bracelet made from wool beads that she felted in an art class.
Our “top dog,” also affectionally known as “Loony Lulu” and “Wacko Head,” sniffed out the present and devoured the whole thing leaving only shreds of paper and the metal parts from the bracelet.
Aside from my daughter being distraught, this made a light bulb go off in my head. My whippersnapper dog is part (or more) Austrian Shepherd. I have concluded she is longing for some sheep to herd and therefore sniffing out every last piece of wool in our house.
It’s a good doggone thing that this loony dog and me have this special bond – which began during her puppy months of me, her, and baby number three sitting under the stars during our nightly 2 am potty breaks/nursing sessions.
I know what you’re thinking, who gets a puppy with an eight-month-old baby? Words cannot explain it, other than I was sad about Blair getting old and adopting a new puppy seemed like the fun, spontaneous thing to do on the first day of summer break.
It was nuts. I am nuts. And she is nuts too!
But we love her, despite the town’s top dog trainer telling us Lulu is the most “stubborn dog” she has trained and that “Lulu is lucky to have us” – and you know what that means! It’s also a good doggone thing I have such an awesome husband who loves me enough to love my crazy dog.
And there you have it – the story of my perfect little Montessori/Waldorf dog who has very expensive tastes in toys, artistic talents and who can devour a book in no time, literally.
Below are scenes from Lulu’s most recent destructions. It happened while she was accidentally left home alone and not locked in her crate, one morning while I volunteered in my daughter’s classroom at her Montessori school.
