Trixie, Our Little Rascal It is over one year since Trixie came to us and we can hardly remember a life without her. Of course, she had her first birthday two months earlier and we celebrated this event together with her two brothers who also live in the Seattle area (pictures). Her day starts with watching Olaf's stretch exercises. She always finds a way to get him to pet and massage her, pawing him until he relents. Before breakfast they go and get the newspapers. We get the local Times and the Wall Street Journal. Trixie decided that the WSJ is what SHE would read, so this is the one she gets. What a sophisticated dog! Olaf works now from home; and Trixie usually lies in the hallway right in the middle between our rooms. In the morning she still sleeps quite a bit. From time to time she takes turns visiting us, particularly to share the last pieces of apple slices, or just to say: "hello, how about a hug." Again, she paws the legs of the chairs or our own until she gets her one-minute massage. She has certain favorites she likes to "steel" from us (read: pick up and carry around the house). One is our micro-fiber cleaning cloth, which she pulls from the handle of our bath tub. She shakes it like a prey before dropping it without tearing it apart; she seems to know it is ours. The other things she loves are my two plastic reading glasses. During the last few mornings Olaf found them next to my chair while I was reading the paper. Needless to say that we have to laugh rather than be mad with her. Soft plastic nasal spray bottles and her old time favorite, used Kleenex, which she devours with delight, also are on that list. Another fad is ice cubes. Whenever she hears us use the ice dispenser, she comes running. She plays with the cube, kicking it across the floor like a hockey puck, then retreating to her favorite spot in the living room to finish it off. During our walks we often encounter people who look at her and smile, then they come up to us and want to pet her. "How soft she is, what kind of dog is it?" Sometimes they abandon their own pets and play with her. The other day a woman who had watched her from her apartment window came running after us with a big dog treat. At the vet's office all the helpers have to say hello before she is allowed to see the vet. Trixie has a wonderful personality. She loves to play with other dogs, most of all enticing them to a wild chase. She is not aggressive at all and rather gives in when she knows that the other dog wants to show off. However, when dogs start to bother her with aggressiveness, she turns around and "shouts" at them with her high pitched voice: "get off my back, NOW!" After we took her to the river in the park many times, she finally started to swim. A duck couple, close to the shore, lured her in the first time and now there is no stopping. Her favorite toy is the orange dummy, and she doesn't get tired of bringing it out of the water time and time again. The 2002 picture collection shows various shots taken this year. Return to pictures: Birthday - 2002 Collection |