Freckles must think that all we do around here is sleep. Since her arrival Thursday night, both Gary and I have been quite sick. I worked from home on Friday and Gary came home early. The rest of the weekend was spent in our pajamas on the couch or in the bed.
Freckles really likes Fe's pink tufted bed. Luckily, unless we are at work and Fe is crated, she has no use for it so Freckles is welcome to it. She comes out of Fe's crate for short spurts, trots around the house or the yard with the other guys, then retreats back to her little pink tufted bed for comfort. She first approached Fe as if to say "Hey! Your my size!" But Fe was far too busy doing "Fe stuff" to be bothered. Fe is the center of her own universe: a welcoming comittee, she ain't! Cooper follows her around and would love to interact with her, but his big goofy play bow was met with a cocked head and a quick dart off to the pink tufted hiding place. I think she afraid he may accidentally fall on her. He's a bit of a clutz! Angel is shy by nature, so she's been quietly observing our newcomer from her cat-like perch on the back of the couch, her lofty position does not allow for much face-time with little Freckles.
Then there's Coley. We call him The Fun Police. He is a mad cuddler when it comes to people, but he is definitely intimidated by other dogs. This tends to come out as a need to "yell " at them when they frolick together or try to get him to play. He is a very serious and regimented little man, but I remember when he first came out of the lab, that his demeanor was much like Freckles. He cowered in a submissive stance and looked to people to give him comfort and support, just like Freckles is doing now. I doubt that Freckles' first interaction with The Fun Police went as she would've hoped. She sniffed him and he stiffened up, so she turned to dart off and accidentally bumped into him. Both dogs were startled and in typical Coley fashion, he verbally admonished her for her transgression (how DARE she bump him!). Normally, Coley's admonishments are met with apathy...most dogs realize right away that's he's got nothing behind the bark, but she cowered and something odd happened: Coley backed off and his demeanor changed. He seemed to notice that she was scared. I went to the floor to comfort her and Coley stayed with me, as if to tell her it was OK.
The Oscars were on the TV. I scooped Freckles up in my robe and had her on my right side on the couch. Coley took my left side. He kept looking at her. She was shaking. Maybe he remembered that feeling of being overwealmed and alone. He started to strech out his body. With every strech, he wiggled and wormed himself a little closer to Freckles. I couldn't believe it! My little kermudgen! While many Americans were shocked that the Best Supporting Actress winner Michell Leo dropped the F bomb on national TV, I was shocked that Coley was now actually cuddling with Freckles. Once he was touching her, his head on hers, she took a deep breath and relaxed for the first time since she had been in our house. He told her it was OK, and she believed it! THAT was my Oscar moment!
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