Yes, you've probably heard the tired cliche about how our phylum is not able to learn things that we had not known in the past. We won't repeat it here, because (a) you've heard it before and (b) to repeat something would be a "new trick" and that's not something we're supposed to be able to do. LOL!!! (by which we mean "Leave Our Lamb[treat]", a subtle note to our mama that we enjoy treats during the day...who says that we can't learn?)
Which brings us to the subject of today's entry. Recently we were both confronted with a new reality, and event so powerful in its impact that even now - two weeks later - we are still reeling from the effect it had on our lives.
But, first, a little background. As loyal readers of this blog know, little Rozi suffers from difficulty in moving her legs. Please, put away the tissues, it's not that. It's that her "leg problem" is that she is not able to push herself away from her dinner plate. And, this, of course, leads to her stomach troubles (again, no tissues; she's just - um - a little chunky). So, when it comes to Rozi's being able to leap onto the couch or the footstool or the other couch or the bed, she sometimes needs to 'get up some momentum', moving her little body vertically up and down a few times before she attempts the leap. And, there are times when the leap itself is less than successful, little Rozi finding herself in the same "ready, set" position after failing to make it up to her intended perch. We have, of course, ruled out the fact that Rozi is the secret identity of superman, since it's understood that he can leap whole buildings in a single bound, while Rozi can't leap to the top of a two foot couch in half a dozen, but it's probably good that we can rule out her having a secret identity. And, then there's the whole thing with the glasses, but let's move on.
Meanwhile, Izzi continues to be the combination gymnast, acrobat, ballerina she has always been, able to make it onto any of these surfaces without really no effort, ending on the couch or foot stool or other couch without even breathing heavily.
Well, concerns about Rozi's difficulties made it to the highest level of decision making in the household: our mama. And, one of the things we love about our mama (and believe us, we could write blog post after blog post about all of the things, but even then we'd only be scratching the surface) is that when we're having difficulties with anything - physical, mental, food-related, spiritual, food-related - she steps in and helps. Like just yesterday evening when we wanted a snack and we got a cold lump of rice on a plate, our mama took the rice, added some chicken broth, and microwaved it for us. Hey, which would you prefer?
So, one day, when mama was gone for about a thousand years, she came back with a big brown box and told us she had a surprise for us. We didn't know what it was, but we thought that it might be food (well, Rozi thought it might be food) and so we waited patiently for our surprise. But, the box went away and we thought the surprise was that we could go into it and make a puppy fort. Nope.
We went upstairs to see what was going on and ... well, before we tell you about the surprise, we should add to the dialogue that we started this blog with. In addition to having to jump onto the couch and other furniture down stairs, we have to get onto our bed at night, right? And, because for some reason that we just don't understand, the bed is about a mile and a half off the floor. So, we've had a 'step' to get up there. Here it is:
You can see that it's a nice step that's big and wide and we can jump from the floor onto it (even Rozi) and then jump from the step onto the bed. Then, when it's time to have a sip of water or get going in the morning, we can jump from the bed to the step to the floor. Okay, there are times when Izzi jumps to the bed, then sits at the place that a jump from the step would lead, and so Rozi can't get up, but generally it's not a problem.
Except that lately, Rozi has had trouble making it the whole way up. Izzi would jump floor -> step -> bed without missing a beat, while Rozi would jump floor -> step -> rest -> rest -> rest -> sit for a while -> rest -> bed [if Izzi wasn't blocking her]. And, we got used to that. Then, the surprise.
Now, here's what we have to work with:
You can see that it's not one step, it's about a gazillion. And, we don't know how we were expected to figure this out without being enrolled in some kind of PhD program for puppies, since this was something that looks as if it were build by an alien race and transported by a wormhole to this universe (we were just watching "Fringe"), by the way.
At first, the new set up was very confusing. We could climb one or two steps, but then we didn't know what to do. Izzi would go up two, then wait, then go back. Rozi would go up one, then wait, then bark, then whine. The very first day we tried, we were exhausted by night fall. We had to be picked up off the floor and placed on our bed at night, and lifted up from the bed and put on the floor in the morning those tough first few days. We thought that we were going to get our old step back, since these new ones were so hard.
But, we didn't give up (because the old step was gone and we weren't aware enough to see that it was just moved about three feet away). We tried and tried and after a few days, we were able to go up and then after a few more days, able to go down (so you're not worried: we didn't end up on the bed for days on end during this transition; we were still picked up gently and placed gently on the floor...if it was mama. Other times, the 'gentle' part? Not so much).
Now, we're pros. Both of us make it up and down without *any* trouble. Oh, sure, there are times when we have to go much less quickly than we might light (those stairs are small!) but we do it. And going down, there are even a few times when we can skip a step.
So, the point is, we can learn new things. We're pretty smart puppies!
Now, if we could just figure out how to get on one another's backs so that we can get all the yummy food that mama leaves on the counter when she's gone for thousands of years.
Yip, Arf, Yip, Yip
Izzi and Rozi
Which brings us to the subject of today's entry. Recently we were both confronted with a new reality, and event so powerful in its impact that even now - two weeks later - we are still reeling from the effect it had on our lives.
But, first, a little background. As loyal readers of this blog know, little Rozi suffers from difficulty in moving her legs. Please, put away the tissues, it's not that. It's that her "leg problem" is that she is not able to push herself away from her dinner plate. And, this, of course, leads to her stomach troubles (again, no tissues; she's just - um - a little chunky). So, when it comes to Rozi's being able to leap onto the couch or the footstool or the other couch or the bed, she sometimes needs to 'get up some momentum', moving her little body vertically up and down a few times before she attempts the leap. And, there are times when the leap itself is less than successful, little Rozi finding herself in the same "ready, set" position after failing to make it up to her intended perch. We have, of course, ruled out the fact that Rozi is the secret identity of superman, since it's understood that he can leap whole buildings in a single bound, while Rozi can't leap to the top of a two foot couch in half a dozen, but it's probably good that we can rule out her having a secret identity. And, then there's the whole thing with the glasses, but let's move on.
Meanwhile, Izzi continues to be the combination gymnast, acrobat, ballerina she has always been, able to make it onto any of these surfaces without really no effort, ending on the couch or foot stool or other couch without even breathing heavily.
Well, concerns about Rozi's difficulties made it to the highest level of decision making in the household: our mama. And, one of the things we love about our mama (and believe us, we could write blog post after blog post about all of the things, but even then we'd only be scratching the surface) is that when we're having difficulties with anything - physical, mental, food-related, spiritual, food-related - she steps in and helps. Like just yesterday evening when we wanted a snack and we got a cold lump of rice on a plate, our mama took the rice, added some chicken broth, and microwaved it for us. Hey, which would you prefer?
So, one day, when mama was gone for about a thousand years, she came back with a big brown box and told us she had a surprise for us. We didn't know what it was, but we thought that it might be food (well, Rozi thought it might be food) and so we waited patiently for our surprise. But, the box went away and we thought the surprise was that we could go into it and make a puppy fort. Nope.
We went upstairs to see what was going on and ... well, before we tell you about the surprise, we should add to the dialogue that we started this blog with. In addition to having to jump onto the couch and other furniture down stairs, we have to get onto our bed at night, right? And, because for some reason that we just don't understand, the bed is about a mile and a half off the floor. So, we've had a 'step' to get up there. Here it is:
 |
| Back when it was easy |
Except that lately, Rozi has had trouble making it the whole way up. Izzi would jump floor -> step -> bed without missing a beat, while Rozi would jump floor -> step -> rest -> rest -> rest -> sit for a while -> rest -> bed [if Izzi wasn't blocking her]. And, we got used to that. Then, the surprise.
Now, here's what we have to work with:
 |
| Our new challenge (that's our mama's picture on the floor....for encouragement!) |
At first, the new set up was very confusing. We could climb one or two steps, but then we didn't know what to do. Izzi would go up two, then wait, then go back. Rozi would go up one, then wait, then bark, then whine. The very first day we tried, we were exhausted by night fall. We had to be picked up off the floor and placed on our bed at night, and lifted up from the bed and put on the floor in the morning those tough first few days. We thought that we were going to get our old step back, since these new ones were so hard.
But, we didn't give up (because the old step was gone and we weren't aware enough to see that it was just moved about three feet away). We tried and tried and after a few days, we were able to go up and then after a few more days, able to go down (so you're not worried: we didn't end up on the bed for days on end during this transition; we were still picked up gently and placed gently on the floor...if it was mama. Other times, the 'gentle' part? Not so much).
Now, we're pros. Both of us make it up and down without *any* trouble. Oh, sure, there are times when we have to go much less quickly than we might light (those stairs are small!) but we do it. And going down, there are even a few times when we can skip a step.
So, the point is, we can learn new things. We're pretty smart puppies!
Now, if we could just figure out how to get on one another's backs so that we can get all the yummy food that mama leaves on the counter when she's gone for thousands of years.
Yip, Arf, Yip, Yip
Izzi and Rozi
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