No…not the composer. Bonnie’s new dog.

A sweet, lovable 50+ pound dog. Before too long, he became an accepted member of our family…although he can be a bit provoking to Melinda’s dog, Toby. But fortunately they seem to have worked through the first few, difficult days of their new acquaintance and are now friends.

But Chopin does have a few quirks, which make living with him an almost full-time babysitting job. His primary quirk that requires almost constant supervision is his inordinate desire to chew on things. For instance, after drinking water or eating scraps of “human food”, Chopin must be carefully watched because he likes to pick up the water dish or the food container and walk triumphantly around with it in his mouth!

Or for example, Dad was watching a movie. Suddenly the movie stopped. Wondering what was going on, Dad looked around the room and saw….no one! But then in walked the culprit joyfully carrying the DVD remote in his mouth.

In addition, once he tried (multiple times!) to jump up and eat the BBQ chicken off a plate Bonnie was carrying from the grill outside to the table inside. He chewed through Mom’s laptop cord (Radio Shack wanted us to pay $120 to replace it…but Mom found a less expensive place to order a replacement.) He picked an orange off Dad’s lunch plate. One of his favorite “delicacies”, which he is hopefully outgrowing, is the pillow from Toby’s bed. Chopin has had some thrilling moments carrying that pillow around the house. He has dragged towels from the laundry room out to the backyard. He enjoyed playing with the hose in our backyard…such that one of them is in multiple segments!  Not to mention the fact that (on the very first night after we got him), he took a bite of Bonnie’s school textbook.

One more thing…he loves helping with the sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming. As Bonnie vacuums, he barks, growls, and occasionally tries to dive in with a menacing attitude. But he is scared of the vacuum at the same time. If Bonnie moves the vacuum toward him, he practically trips himself jumping away from it!

For proof, we have a picture of Chopin “helping” Bonnie sweep.

 

~Melinda and Bonnie~