Our little Gremlin at play

Our new puppy is extremely hard to photograph. Not only does she tend not to stay in the same position for more than one or two seconds, tops, but she also has beautiful, dark eyes that are deep set in dark chocolate fur. Most pictures of her fail to depict her general charm. In fact, when I knew her only through photographs from her breeder, I worried she might be a bit of an "old soul." Serious. Dark.

Not exactly.

Mabel is spirited, to say the least. In fact, this has been a fabulous week for our Australian Labradoodle. Today she turns 13 weeks, and yesterday she got her rabies shot and her second parvo shot. This will allow her to have at least a little bit more freedom from her house arrest here at Bill/Chuck manor. Beyond that, she seemingly has achieved housebroken status, and this week we have begun to give her more freedom in the house. She has not yet let us down, and during the day I've been allowing her first the entire kitchen, then the kitchen and the family room, and finally, when I'm nearby, we've left the door to the yard open.

Mabel getting a tummy rub

She has done beautifully, quite a testament given that she is by nature quite willful and intelligent. She enjoys roaming our yard and playing on the artificial turf. The pool scares her a bit, so she avoids it. That's probably from the two times she fell in during her first and second week. I helped her doggie paddle to the side the second time, so we know she could find the stairs if she did fall in. But I'm quite sure that won't happen at this point.

She's truly a great dog. It has taken me about four weeks to appreciate that. I think it was just such a shock to my system to be in charge of another living being. I rebelled at first, at least emotionally. Now I am seeing how great it is to have her by my side almost always. I think she's amazing.

Anyhow, as I said, she's tough to photograph. So in these shots, I asked Chuck to play with her and rub her tummy because that's when she's most animated. They aren't great photos, granted, but they certainly give a sense of who she is. I'll start, though, with her at the vet. Because the other great part of her appeal is how she looks "at attention." She is a sweet puppy and she wants to please. Note: that person is NOT coming out of Chuck's nose. Enjoy, and since I'm an obnoxious dog owner now, you can surely assume there are more of these to come!

Pondering how she'll annex Poland

Gremlin comes to life!

Yep, we're working on it, but she still will bite.

Who, Sweet Little Me?