Dear Dog-Diary,
What a roller-coaster these last few months have been. One day, my humans went out for a bit. Well, it was quite awhile actually. At first, I thought they were going to the grocery store, so I waited by the window, just like always. They usually bring me back something good like a beef bone or one of those fancy cookies in the shape of a fire hydrant. But then, the next-door neighbor Rob came over and fed me dinner. “Strange...”, I thought. But hey, I like Rob, and a dog’s got to eat.
FINALLY, after waiting by the window for what felt like six years, my humans came home. And what did they bring me? Not a beef bone. Not a cookie in the shape of a fire hydrant, but a very small, and very hairless human puppy. Why did they feel the need to get one of those at the store? I was so confused. I tried to bring them my tennis ball. And then I tried bringing them my stuffed bunny. They didn't seem to want any of my gifts. There was some crying all around, and they seemed real tired like we just did a big weekend backpacking trip, and then they went straight to bed! Just a yawn and a “goodnight” was all I got.
I’ll be honest; having this hairless human puppy around was tough at first. It made so much noise ALL night. No, really. All. Night. Which is fine, I can sleep during the day, but it made my humans tired. Morning walks were a lot slower than usual, and they hardly ever wanted to play frisbee or ball like normal. Every time I tried to get them to chase me around, they said we couldn't because the baby was sleeping. She can sleep at night like the rest of us is what I say!
Also, toys started to show up in the house. There were balls, stuffed bears, and squeaky toys. Sounds great, right? Nope! I couldn’t play with any of them! Every time I would grab one of them for a good ol’ chew and toss session, one of my humans would tell me to 'drop it'. Meanwhile, MY toy box remained stagnate...
But then, one day, I was laying in the kitchen, bemoaning my new situation when something fell right next to my face. CHEESE! Cheese was raining down from the sky! I looked up to see the source of my good fortune and saw the hairless puppy looking down at me and giggling. As she giggled, she pushed another piece of cheese off of her high seat in the sky. I eagerly gobbled this one up too and found my tail wagging as I looked at her. Slowly, it dawned on me that there may be an advantage to having this hairless puppy around. I sat down and offered a paw, hoping to make her giggle again and more food to appear. Sure enough, the paw made her giggle even louder and another piece of cheese was pushed to the floor. “I can work with this”, I thought.
Other benefits of this hairless puppy started to emerge. She started sleeping more through the night, and our family walks became longer. My humans bought a big carriage for the hairless puppy and we started going on trails further and further away from home. It was easy to keep my whole pack together since the humans had to push the hairless puppy’s stroller, and I could easily spot them again when I stopped to sniff something important. However, I do have to share my sleeping bag with the bald puppy now. They think its a great place to change her stinky diaper in the car... I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with that one.
But the best part was that the giggling continued! The hairless puppy loves all my best tricks like roll over, spin around, shake and howl. Every time I do one for her, she giggles and laughs. I started to live for that laugh. I just love making her happy, cheese or no cheese! And soon, the humans said she'll be able to throw the ball for me all on her own. We're gonna play all day long together, I just know it.
Just a few days ago, my humans surprised the hairless puppy and me. I got a brand new collar and she got something called 'an outfit' since she doesn’t have thick fur like mine. (Isn't she cold all the time?) They both have the same wolf picture on it, so we can match! Which is good, since it seems like she and I will be spending more time inside these days.
Diary, change is hard. I’ll admit that I was skeptical of the hairless puppy when she first moved in. But now, it’s hard to imagine our pack without her. She and I will be buddies forever, and I’ll protect her as long as I’m alive.
P.S. When do you think she’ll start growing her fur?
