Flossie – Growing Pains

 Goodness, I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror the other day and who is this large, fluffy dog standing staring at me? Surely I cannot have grown this much?

 

Parks, fields, woods and now the beach. I have been to them all. This rather fetching photograph of me was taken on a recent walk to a local beach and, though I say so myself, I do think it makes me look cute. The windswept look is so very ‘now’.

I have also expanded my group of four legged friends since last we spoke. To date I have met a grand old lady called Daffodil, a border collie, who paid me little heed as she wandered round my garden and investigated the flower beds, A  grand old man called Bailey who tells me he has been poorly but seemed to take a liking to many of my toys and more than a passing fancy to some of the Barbeque food, and a tiny little cheeky chappie called Milo, who looks all of eight weeks but claims to be two years old. Confusion reigns here, his name is Milo but I have clearly heard him referred to as, “that Jack Russell”. Finally, there was Sophie, a bit of an enigma Sophie, quite timid by all accounts, but friendly enough, oh and numerous versions of me of course. At least, I assume they are versions of me, they look vaguely like my mother and make the Boss exclaim loudly whenever she spots one.

“That’ll be you Flossie,” she can be heard to say as a grand old Golden Retriever chances by. Scary thought – I quite like being little enough to crawl under the Boss’s chair or climb onto someone’s lap. A horrible truth occurred to me this week though, I am growing – fast!

This realisation came to me as I tried to join Old Keano under the coffee table. It has always been his favourite haunt so, naturally, yours truly likes to join him for a bit of harmless play fighting. Oh what fun we have had under there, rolling about and biting each other’s ears, nibbling necks and the like. Unfortunately, when I tried to wedge myself in with him earlier this week, I seemed to have grown to such proportions that I could no longer get the whole of me under the table in one go. Clambering onto Keano’s back meant that my head had to remain on the floor and my feet somewhere outside. There was simply no room to move. The table moved though, much to the boss’s horror, with mugs of tea and an assorted array of nibbles wobbling dangerously on top. I now know what it would feel like to be a tortoise.

Of course, there are advantages to my new, plus size figure. I can now reach things that I once could not, thus my trips upstairs continue to be ever more fruitful. The Boss and the other humans are trying to retain their sense of humour as they retrieve the various undergarments, stolen from their bedrooms, which I like to leave in the middle of the living room floor. I have also found I can reach those tasty towels and sheets that are hung on the whirligig thing in the garden, though have been thwarted more than once by a stern word from the Boss.  The Zoe human was slightly distressed to find that I had carefully chewed the edge of one of her new flip-flops, placed on a shelf she had thought to be ‘out of reach’  but I have a special, doleful look, reserved for just such an occasion, which melts the hardest of hearts.  I can run almost as fast and for almost as long, as Keano and, if I put my mind to it, I can be on the sofa in one bound. This last is not to be recommended if a human is already sitting there. This scenario generally results in me being deposited back on the floor with an indignant reproof before I have even had time to blink.

On reflection, maybe growing bigger wont be quite as bad as I thought.  I should probably keep some of my new found abilities to myself for now though. Something tells me, once those humans know exactly how high I can jump, they are bound to place obstacles in my way…

Until next time,

Flossie 16.5 weeks A.K.A Puptales