Slicker than a weasel

Today my baby niece Maya met my dogs for the first time. Mum finally got a car seat installed so she can drive Maya around when she babysits - so she brought her to visit, and we all went to the park.

Spike was utterly awesome, as I knew he would be. My dogs may suck in a variety of situations but they are reliably good with small children, and they adore them. The evil bugger fawned over Maya beautifully and oh so gently. He showed off his mad dancing and tree climbing skillz to Maya's amusement, and he impressed my Mum by responding accurately to my "Where's Maya?" command within three minutes of seeing her for the first time.

...It's a no brainer for a Border Collie. Squish can find a ball on command but he's not capable of generalising that to finding anything else he happens to know the name of. Spike can do that easily. He did not know Maya's name, but he knew she wasn't Granny or Ball or Squish so he figured lying at her feet when I said "where's Maya?" was a safe bet. I love my clever dick dog.

Squish is not clever in quite the same way, but he is very adorable and happy and has long silky ears and made Maya giggle a lot by covering her in happy dog kisses at every opportunity. I love my silly spotted dog.

...My niece is pretty damn cool too. She's - what, two and a half now? The same age as Naamah cat, anyhow, they were born within a week of each other. She's old enough to hold conversations with and she speaks clearly and doesn't shriek. And she loves dogs and cats. And now that Mum can drive her around I should see a lot more of her - this makes me happy.

Slicker than a weasel

Today my baby niece Maya met my dogs for the first time. Mum finally got a car seat installed so she can drive Maya around when she babysits - so she brought her to visit, and we all went to the park.

Spike was utterly awesome, as I knew he would be. My dogs may suck in a variety of situations but they are reliably good with small children, and they adore them. The evil bugger fawned over Maya beautifully and oh so gently. He showed off his mad dancing and tree climbing skillz to Maya's amusement, and he impressed my Mum by responding accurately to my "Where's Maya?" command within three minutes of seeing her for the first time.

...It's a no brainer for a Border Collie. Squish can find a ball on command but he's not capable of generalising that to finding anything else he happens to know the name of. Spike can do that easily. He did not know Maya's name, but he knew she wasn't Granny or Ball or Squish so he figured lying at her feet when I said "where's Maya?" was a safe bet. I love my clever dick dog.

Squish is not clever in quite the same way, but he is very adorable and happy and has long silky ears and made Maya giggle a lot by covering her in happy dog kisses at every opportunity. I love my silly spotted dog.

...My niece is pretty damn cool too. She's - what, two and a half now? The same age as Naamah cat, anyhow, they were born within a week of each other. She's old enough to hold conversations with and she speaks clearly and doesn't shriek. And she loves dogs and cats. And now that Mum can drive her around I should see a lot more of her - this makes me happy.