I Love Minnie & Maisie
Now I know that I have sounded very negative about Maisie and I admit that I didn’t get the same overwhelming feeling of love with her as I got with Minnie…..BUT ….. She grew on me, big style!
She was a terror on four legs. She caused trouble if she could, she barked loudest when she could and she was in to everything, but that was Maisie just been Maisie. She was funny, I laugh at just the way she struts up the path if she hears a noise. I laugh when she’s naughty! I laugh when she eats my plants and digs holes. She is just so funny and not a day goes by that I don’t have a good laugh at what she’s been up to!
Something really remarkable happened when she was about 6 months old. It was strange because Maisie never showed any emotion at all up to that point. She wouldn’t lick you or wag her tail (we thought it was because it was broken) she didn’t like cuddles like Minnie or to be picked up or anything.
Then one day it was like someone had flicked a switch and a light came on in her eyes, this glint (she still has it now) and she wagged her tail for the first time. I was amazed, I called my husband in and she wagged it some more as she greeted him. She wagged it at Minnie, now it had started she couldn’t stop it! It was like a car windscreen wiper on full speed! Then with it came 6 months of pure pent up emotion!
She wanted picking up! Incredible, I picked her up and she licked my chin (still wagging her tail) and I cuddled her and it was out of this world. Someone had pressed her button while she had been sleeping and she was ‘switched on’ at last.
From that day she was a changed dog. She was still a terror but a very loving terror. She would still eat my plants and dig holes but would come in and say sorry afterwards.
Minnie sensed the change in her too because instead of fearing Maisie and letting her get the better of her all the time, she started sticking up for herself and standing her ground. I don’t mean they had a fight or anything apart from play fighting they have never been aggressive as such towards each other but I think that’s because Minnie is a born coward. But when they would both have a chewy stick, Maisie would take hers and hide it then go back and remove Minnie’s from her lips and take that too! Now she still goes and hides her own but when she goes back to relieve Minnie of hers she doesn’t take it out of her mouth because Minnie doesn’t let her. She still ends up with it though because Maisie is very clever. She waits until she’s distracted and then sneaks in and grabs it! And if she is kept waiting too long for something to distract Minnie she will cause the distraction herself by leaping on the sofa and barking at nothing out of the window and then when Minnie has taken the bait and joined her she will then leap down and grab her prize! She’s very sneaky but very clever.
First I had one
Then I had two!
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They both love having a bath which is a good job really because they get to have a lot of them. I invested in a plastic dog bath for them which is a bit like a baby’s bath without the sloping back. I place it inside our bath and shower them in there or if my friend Michael is available I do them in the kitchen sink. I bath, he dries. But they love it, whichever one is in the sink, the other is bouncing up and down like a pogo stick trying to get in. In the summer we bath them in the garden.
They always want to get in my bath too. I have a bath every night and Minnie and Maisie don’t give me any peace. I used to love to relax lie back and watch T.V. My absolute luxury in the bathroom. But these day’s I don’t bother even switching it on because I can’t hear it anyway! They spend their whole time whinging to get in. They have jumped in a couple of times and it really shocked them because I have nice hot baths, mind you it shocked me too!
They love water, they like to go in the sea . I don’t like them to when it’s cold because I then have to come back and give them a warm shower and blow dry them. But they love all the fuss and the warmth of the hair dryer. They’re pretty good at the grooming side of things and they don’t mind a hair cut when it’s needed but they draw the line at nail clipping! We have to have a few slices of ham at the ready as a reward.
In fact ham is the reward for everything. If we are trying to get them in from outside we only have to say ‘oh good girls’ and they’re in like a rocket because that means they get a slice of ham. If they go to the toilet they get a slice of ham. When we go on the beach I have to take a bag of ham with me because every time they bring the ball back they get ham. Mind you that sometimes causes us to have ‘followers’, other peoples dogs who also want a taste of ham!