Girl Games

Miss Athena is a big puppy. She's about nine months old.  She is house trained and crate trained, and is good indoors. There have been no accidents, no chewed up shoes, or anything else. That's really rather remarkable for a dog that age. But she does like to play.

I have tried putting her out in the dog yard in the morning with Theo, Trooper, Max, and Prince, but she won't play with them. Athena is very people-oriented and she wants to be with me. She will stay in the dog yard if I'm working outdoors, but otherwise she's standing at the gate telling me she wants to come inside.

Being with me during the day means watching me at my desk working on the computer, which isn't much fun for a dog. Athena will pick up some of the chew toys that we have and entertain herself for a while, but what she really likes is to play with Maya.

Maya is confined to the house except for walks, so she needs the play time, particularly because I'm not getting out to hike much in this hot weather. When Maya is in the mood and receptive to Athena's playfulness, they really go at it.

Athena has graduated to bedroom privileges at night. Last night was the first and it took her a while to settle down, but she did and she was good all night long. It's almost always one of the two old dogs, Vince or Samantha, who wakes us up in the morning wanting to go outside about 6:00 a.m., if not before. Athena is going to make someone a very good, and very fun companion.