puppy love

This is Shug (like, short for Sugar).



She is my mom's new Springer Spaniel. And my new buddy, while I am convalescing with my newly-acquired influenza A. The flu is a different animal than it was when we were kids, kids - now they swab your nose, call you in two hours with your results, and start you on an antiviral the same day.* So, I'm home, resting, acquainting myself with the lost joys of crime procedurals in English and quite enjoying Anthony Bourdain's show "No Reservations". Drinking lots of fluids, trying not to get too dopey from the meds. Sleeping. There is a lot of snow, so I am confidently not going anywhere.

Anyhow, back to Shug. Shug is a puppy at 8 months, likes to chew what she shouldn't, drink where she shouldn't, and love you. She is quite possibly the sweetest dog I have ever been around, except maybe our old Simone. When I arrived (and my nose still worked for smelling), I thought Shug smelled pretty wickedly like a dog. Running around outside, occasional dip in the pond, etc. I volunteered to give her a bath before Kolz comes home for Christmas, because I want him to like her, and, well, I don't like a smelly dog.

But then, as I'm sitting on the floor tonight with the dog in my lap, I get a whiff of something...else. Like flowers. Or fabric softener. We had been joking, in the post-funeral gatherings, about whether you could Febreze the dog. And yesterday, when my mom said that Shug smelled different (read: not like dog), I thought it had to just be fatigue or something. I mean, I couldn't have told you anything about how anything smelled, I can hardly taste my own food. And you can't just douse a dog with perfume and expect the weeks of running around outside and rolling in whatever to go away.

But tonight, for a moment, with the dog resting next to me, I seriously, honestly, swear to God...someone deodorized the dog.





* Granted, what got me to the doctor was actually the warning from my travel doctor to get a malaria test if I spiked a fever within 6 months of returning from Tanzania. Flu is fine, thanks.