Happy Birthday Abby
Abby poses with her birthday bear
Abby's birthday is March 20. This year she was two years old - a grown up dog and not a puppy any longer.
Her birthday was on Sunday and Sandy and I were out for breakfast at Sandy's favorite place, Le Peep. Northwest Pets just happens to be right next door, so we stopped in to shop for some birthday gifts for Abby. We picked out a soft, furry stuffed bear for her, with a squeaker in it, of course. We also got her some special doggie cookies with doggie frosting on them.
When we got home we gave her the bear. One of the advantages of dog birthdays is that you don't have to wrap presents - a big time saver! She got very excited about the bear. She grabbed it and took it off to a corner to play with it. I'm not sure what it is about the bear that made her think it was a toy and not something else. She doesn't do that with pillows or towels or blankets or other things that are soft. Maybe she is smarter than we give her credit for.
The fierce blond wolf attacks the bear
Or not. Come to think of it, everytime I come home she tries to make off with the case for my sunglasses. She thinks it's one of her chew toys.
It wasn't long before she found the squeaker and was making lots of noise with it. She was having a grand old time. She would hold the bear in her mouth and shake it as hard as she could. Then she would squeak the squeaker. Then she would chew on the bear for a while. She was definitely acting out being a ferocious predator.
Unfortunately she was also humping the bear. I usually only think of male dogs doing that but Abby definitely does it with her stuffed toys. Looking it up, it turns out that the behavior is rarer in females than in males (dogs, that is) but is still present sometimes. I guess Abby is a lover and a fighter.
Every kid loves McDonald's on their birthday
We gave her one of her special cookies. It was a work of art. With different colors of frosting it looked just like a baseball, seams and all. Abby ate the cookie, but she didn't seem too enthusiastic about it. Usually when she gets a cookie it disappears in seconds. Appearance is obviously important for humans and that's why we picked out the doggie cookies that we did. I guess it wasn't as important for Abby because she obviously wasn't crazy about her birthday cookie. I guess next time we are picking out treats for her we'll have to close our eyes and just sniff all of the different choices.
I made up for it later in the day. We have a tradition in our house that on your birthday you get to pick whatever you want for dinner. I couldn't ask Abby what she wanted but I could guess. So I made a special trip to McDonald's and bought her a cheeseburger (just plain - definitely no onions!). When I came home I sat on the floor and broke off pieces and fed her the whole thing. This time she was definitely enthusiastic about her treat!
I think Abby enjoyed her birthday.
