All of our animals are named after historical personalities (except for Ozzy who's named after Ozzy Osbourne - definitely a personality, but not quite historical yet) and Sophie was named after Sophie von Anhalt-Zerbst, the later Catherine the Great.
Started out real small and became real big - both anatomically and historically.
Anyways, Tom took the day off and that turned out to be a good thing since Sophie is so small, very quick and hard to catch once let off onto the ground.
I was worried about the cats and Lana - the cats having been freaked out too often lately by a barking and charging Lana, and Lana herself showing dominance behavior towards Luci and Josi. After the initial greeting, Lana did try to get on top of Sophie to nip her in the back of the neck and we had to stop her.
Sophie ran right up to Messerschmitt to play as I held my breath and already imagined me describing to our vet how the cat swallowed the dog whole, but Schmittchen was so confused that she just sat there and let the approach happen.
Ozzy didn't really react either and we were relieved. It is obvious that Sophie loves cats so the worry that she could be scared and intimidated by them was unfounded.
Hindenburg and Richthofen aren't around much these days, because they are so annoyed by Lana barking at them.
Sophie became very attached to Tom and she goes looking for him and whines when he leaves the house. That'll be great fun on Monday, when he goes to work, and I don't plan on sleeping much Monday night.
She's very active, running around on her thin legs with her hip bones sticking out.
I have the impression that Lana gained some weight so I hope the same formula will work for Sophie - home-made chicken stew mixed with supplements and green tripe.
Of course Sophie isn't potty trained so we're having fun all over again.....
Lana can now be trusted enough that we don't have to put her ino the sunroom when we leave the house. She pees in the house about once a day. No poop lately at all though!Of course she marked over the spots Sophie peed on yesterday, but today there wasn't much of a problem.The dominance behavior only comes up occassionally.
Sophie got to ride along in a carrier that looks like a backpack, but is put on in the front. We wrapped her in a blanket, put her in the pack and Tom put his coat on top. She was snug as a bug with just her head sticking out.
Lana was not slow at all today; in fact I had to walk very fast to keep up with her.
Luckily, walking fast is the thing I do best - just ask my students.
I've noticed a big difference in Lana's activity level. Now, when I come home she lopes around like a puppy and runs circles in the yard for about 10 minutes.
I think she's regained a lot of her energy along with the weight. It is so cool to see the progress she's making!
Luci also exhibits puppy behavior when Lana is doing the homecoming ritual so I'm hoping that the two old gals one day will run around together and become friends.
As for now I feel like I'm the director in a circus - thank goodness I don't have to pick up any elephant poop!
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