When I brought home my first Papillon, Sophie, she was so small she could fit into the palm of my hand.
What she lacked in size she made up for in attitude. She would play dash-and-hide with our 55 pound Belgian Malinois, Winifred. She quickly discovered her voice—and has been using it liberally ever since. And she refused to sleep alone. After two sleepless weeks, Harry and I finally caved in and let her sleep with us.
Sophie
One of the biggest challenges of raising a small dog is house training. Little dogs just don’t want to brave the wind, rain, cold weather, tall grass or bugs when there’s a perfectly good floor inside.
I’ve always been a carrot rather than the stick kind of gal, so I figured I would liberally reward Sophie when she did her business outside. “Good peepee!” “Good poopoo!” “Nice potty.”
And she would get a treat.
Sophie was so thrilled with this arrangement that she could muster up five, six, seven bits of business in a single outing, locking eyes with me the whole time to make sure I acknowledged her accomplishments.
This house training system worked so well that we also used it on our second Papillon, Sarah.
Of course, with all this handing-out-of-treats business, we must keep a jar stocked with treats in the house at all times. I certainly buy treats in bulk. But the best treats—the ones the little dogs love above anything else—are the ones Mom makes with simple ingredients and her own two hands.
These are their favorite biscuits. They don’t have the multi-syllabic ingredients of the store-bought treats. They are filled with wheat flour, cheddar cheese and oats. And I enjoy making little shapes, such as hearts and fish. I need to find a tiny cat-shaped cookie cutter too.
Sarah
ARF!
Here’s where I found their favorite dog biscuit recipe.
Robin
There is so little time.
I still have about 25 things to do on my weekend list. So there will be few words and more photos.
Thank God winter has finally gone. Things are blooming here at Bumblebee–Foxglove, Peonies, Johnny-Jump-Ups, Henryi Clematis, Cleosa…
The asparagus that I though I had eradicated from the perennial border insists on making an appearance. I have to laugh seeing asparagus shoots coming up among the flowers.
The herb bed is filled with oregano, parsley, cilantro, sages, cone flower, rosemary, dill and more. I decided to add some containers to the wide paths this year–a good decision, I think, since it gives me the opportunity to add more color.
On a whim while sitting on the garden bench last year I plucked out a couple of the hens and chickens from the strawberry pot and nestled them into the ground beneath the bench. They thrived there and I continued to add to the collection from time to time. I figure by the end of summer they will have made a nice little bed.
What is a garden without little dogs? Sarah and Sophie enjoy the outdoors as much as I do. Maybe more.
They are the best of friends–and sometimes the worst of enemies.
On another note, the editors at Examiner.com have asked me to write a regular column as their Gardening Examiner. Examiner.com is the expanding Internet presence of a free daily newspaper distributed in four cities. As they expand their online presence they are adding “Examiners” in many different topics. I’m the national Examiner on garden topics. So stop in from time to time and say “hey.”
Robin
I don’t think I’m particularly obsessed with things being perfectly trimmed and even in my garden…
I always tell people that a little bit of wildness breathes life into a greenspace. This philosophy also happens to make it easier to justify the times when I don’t exactly get everything done to perfection in the garden. There isn’t time to do everything and to do it well, so a laissez-faire policy seems to work as well as any to justify what I do (or don’t do).
So I have to wonder if I have the discipline and patience to accomplish a topiary. Can I do all that training and trimming and spritzing and pinning? Do I even have the time?
I may have to give it a try. I have fallen in love with green dogs–topiary dogs.
Take a look at this pooch from the Philadelphia Flower Show, accomplished with multiple varieties of ivies. Some are solid and some are variegated. See the little pine needle sprigs for his whiskers?
There was a whole topiary dog park at the flower show, complete with the obligatory fire hydrant. Some were sniffing and some were playing. I thought this fellow lolling on his back for a tummy rub was clever.
Since I adore dogs, I think a nice green dog would be a wonderful addition to my garden. And I have extraordinary patience with my real dogs. Perhaps that would transfer to a topiary dog.
Wait. What’s this?
Nice try, Sarah, but topiary dogs are green, not brown.
Um. Okay, you’re partly green now. But you’re still not a topiary dog.
Robin
