Naughty girl

This picture of Zuzu is a little blurry because this girl never stops moving. She is a whirl of motion, a bundle of puppy energy who has such an innocent joie de vivre, it's impossible to be mad at her for some of her more outrageous pranks.

This morning, for instance. For the past few days, a box of tissues has been my constant companion. Until about half an hour ago, that is, when I happened to place it on the coffee table. Which was right next to the ottoman. Which was conveniently pushed up to the couch. Making, as I'm sure you can envision, a handy bridge for a furry little darling to walk across, which she did. And then spent several feverish moments in silent stealth, plucking tissues from the box and then chewing them into confetti.

I walked into the living room with my cup of tea -- I'd been out in the kitchen happily stirring in some Splenda and just a touch of milk and thinking what an excellent morning this was for sitting on the couch and reading my book with the deep snow and the fretful wind outside while I was all snug and cozy inside -- and was suddenly puzzled because it looked like snow was strewn all over the carpet.

Then I saw the culprit, standing stock-still on the ottoman and looking at me innocently with half an unchewed tissue hanging out of her mouth. "Tissue? Oh! You mean this tissue? Ummm, well, it's a funny story how all these tissues got out of the box, really amusing. Hershey?"

Hershey just looked at me and then back at Zuzu. If a dog could ever be understood to say, "I SO DID NOT MAKE THIS MESS. SHE DID," it was that dog, right then.

"Zuzu...." I said accusingly. She gave me a sheepish look and then bolted off the ottoman, careening around the entire downstairs of the house, frantically chewing that tissue as she ran. I was in hot pursuit. When she finally had shredded the last tempting piece, she began to bark and hop around, bounding right over Wimzie's back as Wimzie stood sourly looking on.

Wimzie gave me an irritable glance. "See what happens when you refuse to even consider the idea of boarding school?" she asked me with her eyes. "GRRRRR!" she said to Zuzu.

Zuzu, unrepentant, bounced back up on the ottoman and went back to the tissue box. There were a few still left in there, after all. Might as well make a done deal of it!

"Not so fast," I said, seizing her and delighting in the smell of warm puppy. She snuggled under my chin, making these sweet little crooning sounds. I've never had a dog that did that before, nor one that so loved being cuddled. "I am going to have to be really severe with you about the mess you've made. So, um, bad girl."

Hershey and Wimzie traded a long look. Clearly, they don't feel she gets in trouble for anything.