Summer

Summer

What can I say about this sweet pup that the pictures don't show? She is my favourite (but don't tell the others I said that). She is a gentle, tiny girl with the most beautiful face in the world. I'm not good on colours, but Summer's head is a richer, deeper red-brown than any of the other brown/fawn dogs. Is that auburn? chestnut? mahogany? She does have a black muzzle, though the black does not extend as far across the face as her siblings' markings do.

The shape of her muzzle is a bit softer than the others, perhaps due to a bit of an overbite (or is that an underbite?) which shortens her chin and makes her face appear more round. Her eyes, too, are rounder and shine darker than her siblings. She has some black hairs down the centre of her back and on her tail, and like so many of her siblings, a flash of white on one back toe. She will likely have short little legs, though she is such a tiny girl it is hard to tell at this point.

Summer is the smallest of the pups, weighing just seven pounds this evening, their six-week birthday. That makes her more than five pound lighter than her biggest sibling. However, her size doesn't stop her from having fun - she plays rambunctiously with the other pups, and even initiates rough and tumble play with the big boys. She is a bit of a monkey, chewing anything she can get her teeth into and sometimes following her siblings around the potty area in hopes of a not-so-tasty treat (a habit of which I am trying to rid her!).

Most of all, Summer loves to be cuddled. She runs up to me and stretches up to be picked up. She will sit on my lap for hours, nuzzling the inside of my elbow, or licking my earlobe and showering me with kisses if given a chance.

I had a hard time picking Summer's name because none of the squash names seemed quite right for her. Sweet Dumpling came the closest, but she isn't a dumpling in the 'roly-poly' sense of the word, and a name with two words and three syllables was just too much of a handle for such a little pup. But summer squash - summer - summer describes this little girl.

She is sunshine and joy and warmth and beauty. She is something to look forward to when skies are grey, and to relax with when you are ready for some downtime. She is a child's laughter on a sandy beach, a bird's song amidst the apple blossoms, a flower's beautiful scent. Summertime and the livin' is easy, and this is a very easy dog to love.

Summer posing in her bed

Wee little girl

Oops - caught in the act!

Pensive Summer

High five!

(Summer is one of ten pups I am fostering for the Cowichan and District SPCA. Each is being featured in a separate blog entry. The pups and their mama, Lucy, will be available for adoption shortly. All applications should go to the Cowichan and District SPCA. More information on Lucy and the pups can be found by reading the past two months' blog entries - starting September 11/2010 for Lucy, and October 1/2010 for the pups. If you are considering adopting Lucy, feel free to email me with any questions you have about her personality and behaviour, using the link on the side of this blog.)