SAINTS gave us a 15 year old Shih Tzu on crack.

Okay, Mabee Baby is so not an "old dog".

Tonight she decided that non-stop barking is the answer to every prayer. She's barking, she must be hungry, feed her. Still barking, she must want out, open the door and wait for her to go walkabout. Still barking? Cold? Hot? Bored? Bed too hard? Too soft? Water too tepid? She wants to play? With a human? A dog? Which dog?

We are so whipped by this big eyed, big hearted little scrap of character. Every time I pick her up, feeling less bone and more flesh, every time she opens her mouth knowing she is going to get some great treat, every time she curls up in any one of her many beds, I fall in love just a little bit more.

Our Pug, Piper, has less than perfect house-training, and we make a huge deal out of her going outside to pee. She always gets a favourite treat whenever she comes back inside. It took Mabee all of a day to figure out that going outside was a good deal in this house. So much so that she goes outside a dozen times a day, maybe three times to pee, and nine times just to turn around at the edge of the deck and troop back in. She always comes back in with her mouth wide open. I went out, I get liver treats, good times.

Mabee is close to 100% fork-trained, can lick a plate with the finesse of a dog half her age, chomps through chicken legs like a pro and has figured out that the sounds of silver on china, the fridge door opening, a cupboard door opening, or anything hitting the floor means she scores.

Senior? Perhaps. Retired? Hell no. Our Mabee Baby is a going concern. :)