Joint Custody

So as we were nearing the end of our bush-land meanderings and I was lamenting the pending disappearance of my 2 favorite animals, we realized that one of them (Ani) didn't actually need to leave. Since I'm at Tamara's right now, Ani is allowed to stay!! (Technically she's allowed at Kristie's, too, but only in the backyard, and we all know our spoiled little indoor dog would not tolerate that.)

So Ani and I are kickin' it together in Dubbo for 2 weeks until Ben comes back! I told Ben I felt a little like we were figuring out a joint custody arrangement, and he said "This must be the most peaceful/friendly custody discussion EVER."

There are several great things about this arrangement for Ani: she gets long walks off-leash, she gets Underwear Boy's cooking scraps (and since he cooks a bunch of meat every night, she has a nice stockpile of bones and lots of grease to lick off the floor), and she gets to live with 2 cats (although she's very good about not harassing them too much).

She also really likes using the cats' bed, which isn't a big problem since they don't seem to use it, but she doesn't really fit in it.

However, there are a few bad things, too - mostly the evil prickles we encounter on walks. We've started to figure out how to avoid the evil prickles, but early in the week we hit this horrible patch and the poor little girl just looked so pathetic! She'd hold out one paw and I'd clean it off, and then a few steps later she'd need another paw cleaned off. It meant she was really good at staying close, though!