Dotty is just over three months old as I write this. Yet she seems to have become an adolescent, a pleasure that I should not be forced to endure until she’s at least six months old.
Where’s my sweet little puppy?

She’s still got her baby fuzz and a very puppyish, sweet face. (She’s not little, though; she topped 23 pounds at her 12-week checkup!)

But her attitude! Her attitude is 100% teenager!

She demands her “rights” in a loud, entitled voice. She protests the unfairness of, well, pretty much everything. She grabs at treats and gobbles her food, never saying “Thanks.”

She sleeps a lot.

She’s also adventurous and curious. Eager to meet every new person. Jaded and so over spending time with Mom, though.

She still adores her big sister Orly and wants to do, see, feel, taste everything that Orly does.

She’s learning new things every day: Leash manners; retrieving all sorts of things; digging and using her nose to find buried treasures; taking treats politely; figuring out a wide variety of treat toys; deconstructing soft toys and rugs; digging and making huge holes in the yard; extracting the water from her water bowl using all of the tools at her disposal (mouth and front paws); pouncing on the spray in her splash pad; soaking up all the muddy water from a puddle … the challenges are endless, varied, and all, in Dotty’s opinion, fabulous.

But the teenageriness. The not wanting to come when called. The hiding stuff and sneaking off behind the garden shed to engage in forbidden activities (digging, mostly). The “too busy/important to pay attention to you” dismissals…

They grow up so fast.