The Brad Hole

Life with the puppies these past few months has kept us busy, to say the least. We've got it down to a pretty good rhythm now. The puppies (mostly) go into their cages after excursions outside to do their business, although they are far more reluctant to go in their cages after playtime.

We've been letting them out for more and longer times, which has definitely caused some stress for the cats - 4 animals indoors at the same time is, by any measure, a bit much. We're still not sure how that happened.

When the puppies are loose, they have a keen interest in only one thing: each other. They can be briefly distracted only by the call of nature or the smell of cat puke (or cat poop).

Beth mentioned that they're like those 2 brothers in an early episode of Queer Eye. If you've ever seen the show, it's the two brothers who share a house and also a love for dropping to the floor and wrestling on a moment's notice. The puppies will be walking along, and a split second later be at each other on the ground, then back up again.

Beth's cat, Bagheera, has shown a streak of bravery that we never knew existed. He frequently wants to defend us from the puppies, and will go so far as to seek out and slap them on occasion. Luckily for everyone, the puppies are absolutely terrified of the cats. Hopefully it'll stay that way.

Barney has learned how to jump on and off of the sofas and our bed. Kermit is a little slower - he can jump off the sofa, but hasn't learned how to jump up. He will slowly claw his way onto it though, which amuses us to no end since by the time he's up, Barney has usually jumped over him to get off, thus effectively negating his great struggle.

Kermit's collar has become frayed along the loose extra strap part from constant battle with Barney. The loose part of the strap usually dangles below his chin, and because it's 100% frayed, it now looks like he's wearing a stylish black cravat.