Puppy Rituals

Puppy rituals around our house are always special and filled with a lot of humor, joy and love.

I’ve written in previous posts about our little girl dog Hlinukts Seew (Sweet Rain) whom we call Seew for short, so in addition to the pictures of her you see here there should be no doubt in your minds who this article is about again.

Although she’s already over a year and half old Seew is still very much a puppy to us, although to take a look at her face markings of grey you’d swear she was already forty years old (that’s about 280 dog years) and wise enough to ask for help in solving the deeper questions of life.

Hlinukts Seew (Sweet Rain)

Puppy she may be to us, but let me tell you she’s got us well trained already! Me in particular since I’m the one who usually administers the abundance of pets, scratches, belly rubs and general body massages that make her groan in delight and pleasure – for which she repays me with an equal abundance of loving licks (translated in her language to kisses of course) to every part of my hands or face she can reach.

Her morning and evening rituals are already set in stone, and I’m pretty sure a D-10 bulldozer would have a hard time trying to budge them an inch if you gave her any say in the matter.

At night Seew sleeps in her own kennel on my wife’s side of the bed, so come morning time there’s a prescribed sequence of events which are not to be trifled with and go like this…

The wife gets out of bed first at the sound of the alarm, gets dressed and then lets Seew out of her kennel to “go find Dad”, which consists of her jumping up on the bed to attempt to discover my whereabouts. Normally that means I’ve got the covers over my head so Seew has to dig me out, which she proceeds to do with great vigor and intent around my buried noggin and usually results in the arrival of her wet little nose stuck in either my ear or my eye.

She never gives up though until she forces me to expose my full face, at which point she proceeds to give it a morning wash with her tongue that rivals anything I’d be able to accomplish with a washcloth at the bathroom sink. She knows full well that her washcloth routine will end with me grabbing and pinning her happily squirming form down on the bed and proceeding to administer her morning dose of those rubs, scratches, belly and body rubs that she loves so much and soaks up like a sponge. This goes on until my wife is ready to take her outside for her other morning doggy rituals which are equally not to be denied.

Her evening puppy rituals are pretty much the same, except reversed in who first gets the licking.

My wife is always in bed before me so that Seew has the opportunity to “go find Mom” when I bring her back inside after her evening ablutions. This of course means it’s my wife’s turn to deal with a wet nose in her ear or eye, whichever Seew can find first so the wet licks can follow their natural course of prescribed events here. You can probably imagine the happy squeals this produces from Mom every time that cold wet nose finds her in a warm bed.

By the time I walk back into the bedroom Seew has completed her mauling of Mom, and is already camped out on the bed facing the doorway and waiting impatiently for Dad’s arrival. She knows full well that she’s not leaving that space until after I’ve climbed up there and had at least a few minutes of snarling play time with her, to be followed by another round of moaning and groaning pleasurable pets and belly/body rubs to settle her down for the night.

When all of her requirements have been met to her satisfaction Seew walks to the edge of the bed and waits for me to pick her up in my arms to carry her to the kennel, but before I actually place her in it there’s a final part of the rituals that has to be completed. I’m always expected to stop at Mom’s side of the bed and lean down, so Seew can softly place a paw on Mom’s arm as her goodnight loving touch before she’s finally ready for her own bed.

Like I said, she’s got us well trained in exactly what her puppy rituals are to be. We’re more than okay with that though, because every aspect of those rituals are filled and overflowing with the love this little one pours out to fill our hearts with the wonder and joy of her presence in our lives.

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