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BeeBee and the Bed

This past week BeeBee passed another milestone in that she’s able to jump off the bed, or rather from the bed to the old bench at the foot of it, to the floor. The steps are still beyond her and it never might happen. However, when I lift her right rear leg now, she automatically puts her right front paw on the next step and then pushes off my hand. If I were willing to do that every step, I wouldn’t have to carry her up any more. Coming down is a different story. She can get down the

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Aliens on the Move 01-26-08 8:25

I want to preface this discussion with a few comments about non-alien-related (at least I think so) events. The core of my house was built in the early to mid 1700s and includes an unusual stone structure in the basement that almost certainly predates the house. There has been a ghost dog living here since I moved in in ’88, but I’ve not been aware of his or her presence in the last 10 years. Last Sunday when Fric was just starting to experience contractions, I heard the distinct bark of a dog from the corner of the office.

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Frica and the Aliens 01/25/08 1:50pm

Fric has made no attempt to reunite the pointy-headed alien on my bed with the other two. However, either by accidentally moving them when she’s nursing or deliberately repositioning them, the other two are now back in the corners in the box. The puppies are getting more vocal. Hope the aliens aren’t teaching them bad habits… Unless there’s food around, BeeBee has no desire to get too close and face the Wrath of Frica.

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Frica’s Alien Adventures 01/25/08 – 4:30 am

After a week with little or no sleep, I got home from a consultation yesterday, vaguely recall feeding the pets and myself and doing other chores, went to bed, and remember nothing else until I awoke 8 blessed hours later. As soon as I did, I knew that poor Fric certainly had to go out during that time and that I hadn’t heard her or responded to her attempts to awaken me as usual. So I got up knowing that I had a cleaning job ahead and that it was my own fault, but feeling sufficiently refreshed that I

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Frica and the Aliens 01/24/08 – 8:11 am

Staggered out of bed while it was still dark and took the dogs out. Thought I heard a soft squeaking noise from Fric but was too tired to care. Came back upstairs and went to make my bed while the computer booted up. Yellow alien and a piece of fleece from an old slipper that I gave the dogs years ago was on my bed. No aliens in with puppies who were sleep and looking chubby. Twice Fric came downstairs while I was doing morning chores and tried to get into the cupboard. Son Dan emailed me that I

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Frica and the Aliens 01/23/08 – 5:51 p.m

This morning I removed the two aliens from her box to see what Fric would do. After she had nursed her pups and they were sleeping, she got out of the box and retrieved the first of these, giving a strange cry when she did this that I’d never heard her use before. At some point when I was working, she retrieved the second without a sound. Because I haven’t gotten much sleep since the pups were born and I had a consultation scheduled for this evening, I decided to take a nap on the couch. The other two

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Frica and the Aliens 01/23/08 – 8:52 am

OK, so I lied. This morning, it was still fairly dark when I looked into the maternity suite and saw the two aliens. At that time I assumed it was the grungy yellow one Fric took up yesterday and the purple one I saw her heaving up the stairs this morning When it got lighter and I checked the box again looked again, I saw that there were actually two purple aliens, both tucked in a corner as if watching over the pups. So, sometime during the night she removed the yellow alien–whom I have yet to find–and replaced

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Frica and the Aliens 01/23/08 – 7:02am

Last night somehow Frica dragged BeeBee’s stuffed porcupine toy up the stairs, but rightly decided it was way too big to fit in the box with her pups. This morning she dragged a grungy purple alien up and it’s now in the box with the grungy yellow one. May need to get a bigger box…

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Frica and the Aliens 01/22/08

The following posts are from a series of emails I’ve been sharing with friends regarding the fascinating behavior displayed by my shitzu-terrier mix, Frica, following the birth of her pups. I’m also including this in the BeeBee Chronicles because, aside from Frica being 2 years older, Bee’s presence is the only thing that has changed since she had her first litter. At that time, I did have another dog, but she was an adult female, not a pup like BeeBee. The original emails included pictures, but the quality of them when uploaded to the blog was so poor that

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The NH Primary: Bring on the animals!

It’s that time again, time to do an ethological analysis of the American political process to see how we measure up to lower life forms. Alas, so far and once again, not so good. In animals, the goal is to produce viable young, and ensure their survival. This is a two-step process. First males and females compete among themselves to prove who has the best competitive skills. The second part is that those who proved their superiority among their respective peers must then prove that they’re sufficiently compatible and qualified to mate, produce viable offspring, and successfully raise them.

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