Life is not a picnic for Schnoodles

It's been a long time since I've written about the dogs. The little beasts used to be the center of our world, but they've been out-done by a big-eyed, bobbly-headed infant. Life is still pretty good for Billy and Sugar. They get long walks most days in the English Gardens, where they run off leash, making friends and getting filthy. Which leads to the one sad part of their life which is far fewer pets. Grimy creatures that they are, one generally does not want to play with them during anytime when you might need to handle the baby, which is basically all the time.

Billy has adjusted better than Sugar. He's gotten very portly somehow, which has led to a decrease in the number of dogs slow enough to play with at the park. Now that the weather is better, there are more people lounging around in the park than before, which make for far easier targets than those danged fast-moving canines. Billy happened upon a casual picnic of 5 or so friends the other day, so he immediately invited himself to that party. Having a baby strapped to my chest, I am a little slower with chasing him and a lot more reluctant to yell at him. Dog-telepathy failed me again (Billllly...read my mind... I will sell you on eBay if you disrupt the picnic... with no reserve price....). So, by the time I got there, he had trampled their card game and commenced sniffing their snacks. Chanting "excuse me" in German, I try to shoo him, which obviously he thought was a game. I told him that he was a massive idiot, and happily the picnickers spoke enough English to get some amusement out of me insulting my dog. And so, Billy is fat, annoying, and quite proud of both. Judgment day will come once Edie is mobile. Mark my words.

Poor little Sugar isn't faring as well. Delicate thing that she is, we make an effort to cuddle her everyday. But it's not enough for her, and so she spends most of her time scuttling underfoot and cowering. When you coo too much at the baby, Sugar begins to wail. And as icing on her hard-knocks life cake, I stepped on her head at 3 am last night when returning to bed after feeding E. Now she suspects a murder plot. It's quite sad. But we love our little fluff-ball, and she has survived worse, Detroit street-dog that she is. Spring has beckoned green grass, which Sug loves to flip over onto and scrub her back upon. So there are upsides to life. And more good times are ahead, small one.

The latest dog-drama is trying to find someone to watch them while we are in the US for a month this summer. When I lived in Detroit, we were incredibly lucky to have a woman watch them whom they loved easily as much as they love me. I just want someone who I like as a person, is good with the dogs, and has that intangible you'd trust them with anything vibe. Sigh. The bar is a little high. (We miss you, Janelle!!)

So there is the Billy & Sug update, as I know they have fans among those who read this blog. They are still very dear to us, though they've slipped in the priority rankings. If we end up having to leave them home alone this summer, they can get back at us with some poodle version of Risky Business.