The Scamp

My daughter only asked for two things for her birthday--a Zhu Zhu pet or a kitten.  At the time Zhu Zhu pets were in short supply, and kittens, well....I have issues with cats.  A cat tried to kill me once.  I found poor kitty high in a tree, mewing in such a pitiful way.  I climbed that tree, rescued poor kitty, and gave him food and shelter for the night.  In the middle of the night he repaid me by curling up on my face, over my mouth.  I awoke gasping for air.  He was trying to suffocate me, I just know it.  No cats for me.

As her birthday had passed, my daughter, a master of compromise, then asked for a puppy for Christmas.  Now I had been toying with the idea of another dog for some time.  We had our beautiful black lab, Sassy, the most well-behaved dog you'd ever want to meet, but Sassy was getting on in years, becoming quite lazy, truth be told.   A puppy might bring back some of her youth and vitality.

My parents own two Bichon's, the cutest, fluffiest, cuddliest little creatures I had ever laid eyes on.  The puppies would cuddle and love on me, much to the chagrin of my father.  I think he was jealous of the attention they lavished on me.  At the end of a visit, my parents would check my luggage to make sure I hadn't kidnapped their 'babies'.    My daughter was equally smitten with 'the puppies' as my dad calls them.  He doesn't like dogs, but puppies are okay.

Bichon's are beautiful animals, and they come with a hefty price.  Really out of my budget.  But my mother had an idea.  She offered a puppy as a Christmas gift for me and my daughter.  Not one of their puppies, of course, but an equally cute, cuddly, 'foo-foo' puppy.  We searched high and low, unable to find a Bichon, but were able to find a comparable mixed breed, a Bichon Frise/Shitzu.  Now please don't call my baby a mutt, I take offense to that, she is a 'designer breed'.  She is a Shitzon!

Before we even picked out the puppy, my daughter and I had already decided on a name.  Again, we compromised.  Since the pup was a Christmas gift, and she had wanted a Zhu Zhu pet, we settled on Zu Zu's Petals, after my favorite holiday movie--It's a Wonderful Life.  She had her Zu Zu pet and I had my own little Foo Foo puppy.  I had visions of my pristine white puppy with bows in her hair, daintily scampering about.  Yep, visions equal dreams, and dreams are not always reality.

I should have taken the clue when we first walked into the place.  There were several little puppies scampering about.  I had my eye on the shy, quiet one in the corner, but my daughter fell in love with the puppy that practically knocked her to the floor--the wildest puppy of the bunch, the puppy that became our ZuZu.  Sold!  Merry Christmas!

Naturally I was concerned how our Sassy would feel about this new addition to our family.  She is an 8 year old lab, and has been the only dog her whole life.  But being the sweet dog that she is, Sassy looked upon this tiny addition as one might a fly--just a pest.  Sassy tried to ignore the pup, but ZuZu would have none of that.  ZuZu was that annoying sibling.  She would run circles around Sassy, nipping and biting at her feet.  "Stop Touching Me." Sassy took it all in stride, up to a point.  Sass is the Alpha dog and she lets ZuZu know it.

Mornings find ZuZu dashing about the yard, soaking up dew to her belly.  When she's good and wet, she'll make her way over to her favorite digging spot, coming up for air with a muddy face and paws.  Then a quick trip to the sandbox for a little more digging.  She's becoming permanently stained a dingy off-white color, despite frequent 'whitening' shampoos. 

Her newest mischief includes tipping garbage cans to find the used tissue, then shredding them into thousands of pieces of snotty confetti.  Her favorite game is sneaking into my daughters room to steal one toy, then run out of the room like a thief in the night.

ZuZu is a scamp. She's like that ragamuffin child, dirt smudged and hair all askew, big sloppy grin plastered across her face.  You know she's up to no good, but you can't help but love her.

                                   Like owner, like dog.