Last Updated on: 29th December 2015, 11:48 am
I figure I have some time, so why not write about Tans and Trix. Plus, it’s an excuse to put up this photo of Tansy with Santa. 
I also sent it to her puppy raisers and they seemed to like it. It was quite an adventure to get to this one pet store that was doing this photo with Santa thing, but the money went to rescue dogs, so hey, glad to help.
Tans is funny when she gets running lab loops around the living room. Sometimes it feels like she has forgotten where her body’s going and hits stuff by accident, but sometimes it looks like she goes out of her way to hit the people who are playing with her, just for fun. One day, Steve was on the floor with her, and she started doing loops around him, and drop-kicked Steve right in the head on purpose. What a goof.
Poor Tans’s rambunctious side doesn’t sit well with some other dogs. Some just love it, but the older, crankier ones like Trix aren’t so patient. But the funniest thing for me, is that Sandy, Steve’s aunt’s dog, you know, Trix’s big tormentor from 2009, will fiercely protect Trix when Tans gets too rowdy. It’s kind of cute.
Over the holidays, Trix and Tans saw each other again. They didn’t play much, mostly because Trix was not having much of this rough stuff. She would bark at Tans, and sometimes, roll her eyes as if to say “Get that complete nutcase away from me!” But every now and then, Tans and Trix did let loose and have a good time.
Also, Tans had a good time with some little kids that were over for a party…although I was afraid she might trample them. Thankfully everybody simmered down before anyone got hurt.
I’m also thankful that once again all my nightmares didn’t come true. I had horrible visions of Tansy jumping on either the elderly relative who had previously broken her hip, or Steve’s sister who she has previously loved to jump all over, but who is pregnant right now. I was sure I was going to have to spend significant time with Tans leashed to me, but she was very good. She had a couple of moments, but nothing like I was afraid of, and noone was injured because of a leaping dog. Also, as far as I know, nobody slipped her forbidden food.
I have been lucky, I’ve been able to see Trix a couple of times recently, and I think she’s decided I’m a decent human being again. For a while, it felt like she wanted nothing to do with me. But right now she’ll sit near me, and every now and then I’ll get a big sloppy kiss on the face.
It’s funny how little characteristics of a particular dog aren’t super noticeable as unique to that dog until you get another dog. For example, there’s Trix’s lizard tongue and that big slapping noise it makes when she licks at something. I just thought that was a dog thing, but now I notice the difference between her and Tans. Also, when Trix is done doing her duty, she does this rooting digging thing with her paws. Tans doesn’t do that a lot, although I’ve noticed her doing it occasionally, especially after she had a bit of diarrhea back at the beginning of December.
I can’t explain this, but even with this year being milder, Tans still shivers like her first winter. I can understand her not thickening up because we haven’t had cold weather, but I thought she wouldn’t shiver as much.
One worrisome thing we noticed is the vet has noticed more bald spots. I have no idea what would make her lose fur.
With her thin fur, she will not sleep on hard floors, and will tell me so, apparently. I forgot to write this in another update, but we were at my brother’s, and the room we were sleeping in had a hard floor. When we first arrived, she saw two beds, and immediately assumed the one bed must be hers. After being told no, she just stood between the beds staring at me, as if to say “You expect me to sleep on *this*? I got her a blanket, and she immediately lay down on it and went to sleep.
There’s a good chance that one of her little weird cysts is gone. I can’t find the one on her paw readily. One is still there, but it doesn’t appear to be changing, so this is good. I’m still stumped by something they said when they tested the cyst to see what was inside. The vet called me and detailed what cells had been found. She said there were some blood cells, some random skin cells, and some debris. Debris? What kind of debris floats around inside our bodies?
We have a new song that Tans likes. It’s Fell In Love With New York.
but it seems I have to sing it to get her going. And sometimes she goes nuts if I badly imitate Tom Power from the CBC’s Radio 2 morning show.
And I think that’s all in terms of odds and ends. It’s so nice to see both dogs doing so well.