New Roommate

On Saturday my new roommate moved in. No, I'm not talking about "The Cloud" as I lovingly call my queen-size sleigh bed, although it moved in on Saturday too.

I'm talking about "Tiny,", an 11-lb Chihuahua mix that my brother adopted a couple years ago.

Tiny is a great little dog. He's house-trained and pretty mellow and only barks whenever he meets a human, sees a large truck or hears someone walking up the stairs outside my apartment. But seriously, mostly he doesn't bark and I'm working on his behavior related to the aforementioned issues. I try to remind myself that if I was only 1-foot tall, I would be really afraid of a lot of stuff too.

I think that perhaps receiving Tiny as I was in the midst of jet lag from my UK trip was maybe for the best, because I have been really sleepy and not that into "doing stuff" and so we have been able to just veg out together in the apartment and explore the neighborhood together on walks.

The biggest obstacle to having Tiny here is that I live on the 2nd floor and Tiny was FREAKED out by the stairs. He wouldn't walk UP them... and he wouldn't walk DOWN them. Seriously, he just stood at the top and shook like a leaf and wimpered. At the bottom he would put his paws on the first step and just look up the stairs and then to me like saying, "Um, I don't think so lady."

The other problem is that Tiny is not real big on dog treats. Even the expensive ones my mom brought with her as part of my "new dog owner birthday present". So I used Cheddar Cheese. Yes, I bribed my dog with cheese and I'm so happy to say that it WORKED!

He is now running up and down the stairs like a champ! And I am experiencing the same thing that parents experience when their kids learn to walk: both joy that he has overcome his fear and figured out how to get up and down the stairs and sadness that he is no longer afraid of walking down the stairs and thus may run away at any moment (before at least I was pretty sure he'd stay upstairs if the door was open. this is no longer the case).

I'm sure there are lots more dog stories to come. This weekend Tiny is meeting the dogs of some of my friends - doggie play dates, if you will - so hopefully that will go well..... at the least it will be entertaining.

In the meantime, here is a picture of my new roommate!