Settling in

We enjoyed Beulie so much that I dreaded every phone call figuring CCI would be asking to take Beulie back so she could transfer to her new puppyraiser. But the telephone never rang, at least not for that, and it never rang and it never rang.

Beulie, in the meantime, was getting stronger and developing some muscle. I used to keep her in an exercise pen in the kitchen and she would stand up and watch us. Even when she was still quite young we referred to her as the Vertical Dog because she loved to stand. The day she and the pen came crashing down she had earned her freedom and the pen was put away.


After about a month we knew we could never just hand her over for someone else to do what we were now wanting to do -- raise her! So I called CCI myself and asked if we could be her puppyraisers. CCI agreed.

Our responsibilities were to 1) get her housebroken, 2) have her well socialized and 3) get her some training and 4) maintain her health. The first eventually happened without much effort. The second was the whole point of having her stay with real people instead of growing up in a kennel environment, the third involved our attendance in regular classes at CCI and the last included taking her for routine medical care, keeping her clean and clipping her nails.

I used to love to trim her nails! I always used a Dremel with a sandpaper attachment and would buzz off each nail, all 18 if you count the dew claws, usually once a week (because the trainer would check during class!). Of our four puppies, Beulie was the easiest in nail-trimming. She would see me coming with the Dremel and flop on the floor, flat on her back in a totally submissive posture. We were efficient, she and I, we could start and end within three minutes, all 18 nails neatly smoothed and ready for inspection. Brix, on the other hand, our older dude dog, carries on and makes it two person production number that takes forever. Give me a Beulie-Dog, any day!