I'm A Good Girl I Am

Stemming from great admiration for Audrey Hepburn, particularly the memorable hooligan-turned-lady she portrays in My Fair Lady, we have chosen "I'm a Good Girl I Am" for the name of our new little girl.

Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle, the ruffian who insists, "Eeeewww! I'm a good girl I am!"

For those unfamiliar with the way that the dog world works, here's the scoop. There are so many dogs on record with the AKC that you can't register your dog as simply Fido or Rover. You have to pick a unique name or phrase to represent your pet; they allow up to 30 dogs with the same name before it is discontinued from use forever.

So in confident hope for our own little hooligan, we have dubbed her in faith of the magnificent lady we know she'll become.

Bear with me now - I have to share just a couple of stories...

When Annabelle first arrived, we put her crate in our dining room - about 10 steps from our bedroom. Every time we put her to bed for the first few nights, she would cry and cry. She'd literally cry herself to sleep. And then she'd wake up from her full bladder a few hours later, and the whole ordeal would start all over again. A few nights into this, Brian got up at 4 am to take her outside. After returning her to the crate, he shut our bedroom door to drown out the whimpers (this may sound heartless, but we were in desperate need of sleep)! When he got up for school at 7, he opened the door and tripped over a little ball of fluff lying right outside our door. He hadn't shut her door all the way, so she had escaped and come to sleep as close as she could get to us. Feeling like horrible parents, that next night we moved her crate into her room. And she hasn't whined at bedtime since. Doesn't that melt your heart?

Last week, on the snowiest day of the year so far, we got to make an emergency run to the vet. Poor little girl had woken us up at 3:30 a.m. crying. After taking her outside at least five times over the next two hours, she would not stop whining. We could not figure it out, so covering our heads with pillows, we finally fell back asleep. When I got up in the morning, her poor little ear flaps were swollen at least 1/2 inch thick (they should be 1/8 inch) and her face was swollen too. She shook her head all day and moaned until the vet could work her in. It turns out that she had an allergic reaction to something, but it's hard to know what, considering most plants are covered in snow and insects who might bite her aren't active in the dead of winter. The vet put her on benadryl and it worked like a charm! Good to know there is a $5 remedy that's usually stocked in our medicine cabinet, just in case it ever happens again!

Following are a few pictures and a video of Annabelle (aka: I'm A Good Girl I Am) as she has adjusted to life as a Smith.

Weekly pictures (taken next to her little golden toy for size reference):

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And finally, here's a little tug-of-war video. Though the winner is predictable, its still pretty cute.