HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TAENZER!

(Miss Fuzzball Bigfoot, 8 weeks old)

Happy, happy birthday, my girl.

She's four years old today. When I woke up this morning I sang Happy Birthday to her and told her that at this time four years ago she was a fuzzy little sausage I could have held in one hand. Then Timber jumped up and started wrestling with her (translation: "Stop messing around, Mom, and take me out to go potty!").

I don't have a new toy for her, but she's had a rehydrated dried green tripe patty (which, to judge by the reaction, was yummy), and later I'm going to go out and get burger, eggs, cottage cheese, and green beans, and I'll mix it up with some cooked oatmeal for her birthday dinner. Timber and Annie will get some, too, of course, so they can celebrate too. She'll also get a braided bully stick for a chewy, and it's a gorgeous day, so I'll take them out to play at least twice, probably three times.

Yesterday I noticed she was rolling her ball into a place where I had to go get it, and once it was brought to my attention I saw she was doing it deliberately, the brat, so I started taking it away from her when she did it. She stopped flipping it into the compost heap pretty quickly when I started doing taking it away for the play session, so she'll catch onto this fast. Anyway, there she was with nothing to do, so she rolled in the grass a little, then got up and sauntered over to where Timber was standing beside his jollyball. She thought she'd just mosey up and take it, but he mrfed at her (to the surprise of us both--once in a while he just puts his paw down and stands up for himself).

So they started rearing up and boxing and wrestling, which is never a good idea for her--he outweighs her and his build is so different from hers that if they get physical he can dump her on her butt pretty much at will. And she HATES that. He got really carried away and got a little aggressive--no growling or biting or anything, but she was hitting the ground a lot, and getting defensive--arched back, hackles up, whale eyes. She really doesn't like rough play. But she LOVES to run, and she's much faster than he is and so quick and dynamic--talk about turning on a dime--so she started running.

At first he wasn't having any of it, but she kind of teased him into it, and they galloped all over the puppy pen. She'd let him almost catch her, then plant a foot and dart off in another direction while he shot past her. Timber doesn't often *run*, but he was running yesterday. They jumped all the jumps, and at one point they came charging past, and just as he was closing on her, Taenzer ducked through the short (3-foot) tunnel and shot out the other end without missing a beat. It was so cool to watch them, and I was sorry I didn't have the camera with me.

I just want to say how grateful I am for this girl. She's so incredible. She has all the amazing intelligence I expect a Valiantdale dog to have, coupled with wonderful athetic quickness and grace. She's a clown and a goofball, with a goofy sense of humor. She's loving, nurturing, and demonstrative, and has an old, wise spirit. She's not perfect--she's high-strung, sensitive, unforgiving, and slightly insecure, and people are always asking me if she's a border collie cross. But I feel so very, very lucky to have her in my life, and I hope that ten years from today I'm giving her a hug and whispering "Happy birthday, my sweet girl."

Valiantdale's StarDance

Little puppy, I love you,

you make all my dreams come true,

Little Taenzer, I am awfully fond of you.

Happy birthday.