Puppy Love.

One of you lovely readers recently asked for an update on our beloved Airedale Terrier, Tilden (“Tilly”) Marigold Shoop.  If you’re not a dog person, this might be a good time to tune out, because…lots of puppy love (and puppy gear recommendations!) to follow.

{Look at that smile.}

{So regal.}

Tilly is now a year and four months old, and very much in puppy mode.  She is simultaneously the terror and light of our lives.  She is endlessly frustrating (within the past 24 hours, she has shredded a meaningful card from mother-in-law; snagged a pair of #minimagpie’s shoes off the counter, requiring a long and protracted chase around the house; and eviscerated a pillow), but she makes us laugh every single day–and, like total nut cases, we miss her when we’re away and will often look at pictures of her while we’re in bed, just a floor above where she sleeps.  I will admit that raising a puppy has been harder than I expected, especially given her breed characteristics (Airedales are notoriously high-energy and stubborn) and her size (she’s about 60 lbs, which makes her hard for me to control given my petite stature), but the challenging aspects of her personality are also what make her so damn perfect for us: we love her intelligence, sassiness, independence, and bravery.  I regret that she doesn’t have more space to run around; we’d love to give her a big farm yard in which to chase rabbits and rodents–it’s where she’s meant to be, what she’s meant to do!–but we do have a small backyard that she dominates (it’s her turf) and make an effort to take her up to the dog park typically 4-5 times a week.

{Keeping watch over the backyard.}

Below, some vignettes:

+Tilly knows how to help herself to ice from our refrigerator.  Standing on her hind legs, she gently depresses her paw against the ice lever.   Baby girl loves herself an ice cube. #ThankGodforFridgeChildLocks.

+Relatedly, many guests have commented on the fact that there’s something human-like about Tilly.  She has extremely expressive eyes, and she’ll cock her head to the side in an inquisitive way.  She’s also extremely dextrous with her paws–she almost uses them like hands.  But the fact that she spends a good portion of her day “counter surfing” on her hind legs is what really seals the deal.  Sometimes I’ll walk into the kitchen and there she’ll be, standing on her hind legs, almost as tall as me, and it’s as if she’s preparing food at the counter–I half expect her to turn and say: “Hey, you want some eggs, toots?”

{Reminding me to stop and smell the roses.}

+She has destroyed dozens of toys, but her stuffed, squeaky duck has somehow survived–and it’s the first toy we ever got her.  Can’t say enough good things about this brand of dog toy, Fluff + Tuff.  I’ve put her duck through the wash dozens of times, and it comes out looking good as new (and with a still-functioning squeaker!) every time.  (Her trout by the same brand also lasted a long while, but unfortunately bit the dust recently.  May she rest in peace.)

{Tilden as a 6-week-old puppy with her duck…still kickin today.}

+Rope toys are also a favorite of hers, though she’ll often eventually shred them and eat pieces of rope along the way.  This floppy giraffe ($14) has put up a good fight.

+We’ve gone through a few Kongs, but they do last a few months (i.e., longer than your average Tilly toy).  To keep her busy at night, we often make her a frozen Kong treat — smear a little peanut butter over the top hole; freeze that for a few hours until solid; fill the inside of the Kong with a combination of dog food, diced apple, and water; seal the other end with another dollop of peanut butter; and put back in the freezer for a few hours.  She loves it and it keeps her occupied for about an hour and a half every night.

+I loved the look of this wooden dog bowl stand (and the fact that it’s personalizable!), but couldn’t bring myself to drop $115 on it, especially when Tilden can be…destructive.  So I was thrilled when I found this similar style at Target for $25–it looks great in our kitchen since it sort of blends in with the floor.

+We’ve fed her fancy Blue Wilderness dog food since she was a puppy, thanks to my father-in-law.  He insists that feeding the dog the best organic food available can stave off illness.  It’s $$$ compared to other options, but if it works, it works.  (P.S. — We store her food in one of these containers.)

+Tilly pushes Mr. Magpie’s buttons.  He’s definitely the disciplinarian around here, and he does not tolerate her nonsense–but one trick she keeps up her sleeve that Mr. Magpie has no solution for?  When she’s in a sassy mood for no apparent reason (sometimes she works herself up into “a snit” where she wants our attention and will bark at the door, the wind, her toys, a chair, her own gas, etc. — it’s called “attention barking” or something like that), the best strategy (according to multiple experts) is to completely ignore her.  You don’t want to encourage her behavior or let her “get what she wants.”  So what does she do when we ignore her?  She’ll start gnawing at the screen door.  So far, she’s created two lovely holes that will probably set us back $100 or $200 in repairs when we get around to it in early spring.  It drives Mr. Magpie totally up the wall because he’s committed to ignoring her, but she’s quietly, maddeningly destroying our lives screen door and we can’t sit idly by.

{Bonding with Mr. Magpie.}

+Tilly is obsessed with peanut butter.  You should see the crazed look of desire she gets in her eye whenever I say the words “peanut butter” or go near our pantry cupboard.  Sometimes I’ll look over and see drool literally dripping from her mouth as she waits for a lick.

+Tilly’s a sassy, independent woman.  Like most terriers, she’s not much one for snuggling–but every now and then, she is incredibly affectionate.  There have been a handful of times where she’s caught my sniffling at a sad movie or crying for [insert any of the 2390 reasons why I cry every month], and she’ll come over, put her paws on my shoulder, and literally lick the tears off my face.

{Looking like a sweetheart.}

+She knows the commands “paw,” “sit,” “off,” “lie down,” “come,” “up,” “bang bang!” (“play dead”), “crate,” “get in your bed,” and “roll over.”

+Knowing these commands is not the same thing as adhering to them.  She’s a terrier and has selective hearing.

{Up to no good.}

+She is incredibly treat-motivated.  She’ll usually follow the commands above if there’s a treat involved…and no squirrel in sight.  She loves these salmon treats ($7) or any of the flavors from Bocce Bakery (aren’t the flavors hilarious?!)

+Squirrels are Tilly’s arch-nemeses.

+She also hates the vacuum cleaner, broom, mop, and being told “no.”  (“No” often sends her into one of her famous “snits.”)

+We’re shocked Tilly responds to her name, because we have about a trillion nicknames for her — currently in heavy rotation: “Tillbean,” “Chinchilla,” “Chills,” “Chili,” “Chinchi,” “Tillecita,” “Tildeena,” and, perhaps oddest of all, “Char Dog.”  (All the “Chili” nicknames come from the fact that Mr. Magpie’s dad often uses Siri to text us, and Siri often misinterprets “Tilly” as “Chili.”)  We have her name personalized on her collar and leash, which are this style from Mark + Graham ($36+).

+For a long, long time, she couldn’t climb stairs.  It was delightful–we never needed a baby gate.  Unfortunately, just a month ago, she discovered that she had it in her.  All hell has broken loose.  When she figured it out, I think she went up and down the stairs 20 times within the span of an hour.

+Prior to the screen door gnawing trick, she also enjoyed gnawing on a wall of our house.  Literally, a wall.  Sometimes she’ll still trot over to it and put her mouth against it–not quite biting it, but threatening to–and wait for our reaction.  #Clevergirl.  (To be read in the voice from “Jurassic Park.”)

{One smart cookie.}

+Tilly sleeps in her crate with a faux fur throw that used to live on our couch. We used to have epic battles over the blanket and eventually just got tired of tearing out of her mouth (something about the fur fabric drove her wild!)  We will eventually get brave enough to try to introduce her to sleeping upstairs in our room, where she already has a monogrammed Orvis dog bed ($63+ depending on size) set up!, but not until after we’ve figured out how to sleep with a baby up there…in the meantime, for daytime naps, she also loves her ginormous sofa bed ($79+ depending on size) from Grandin Road, a gift from Mr. Magpie’s mom.

{In her ginormous dog sofa.}

+Tilly loves the dog park.  She’s extremely social there, playing with all the other dogs nicely.  During the summer, the park puts out some puppy pools, and Tilly loves to daintily jump in, only getting her paws wet, multiple times throughout the visit.  This is funny because she does not particularly enjoy having a bath.  (But when she does, we shampoo her with this dog shampoo, which leaves her coat SO soft and fluffy.)

+Mr. Magpie is very disciplined about brushing Tilly’s coat — he uses a slicker brush ($20) and an undercoat rake ($15) to care for her.

+Tilly is a water hog–if another dog owner brings a water bowl to the park for his pooch, Tilly will find it and slurp it all up.  When I’m a good dog mom, I remember to bring her collapsible bowl ($7 for 2) to fill it up with water.

+When she’s chewing something she shouldn’t be and gets caught, she’ll quickly start licking it instead, as if to say: “No no, I wasn’t chewing that…I was just licking it nicely.”

+All in, we adore her.

{Hard to believe she was ever this little!}