Catia
Well-Known Member
Tessa is now 10 months.
She is still my delicate little flower.
She is a baby still, & will always be *my baby*.
I've heard TM's usually remain soft with their owners, despite being guardy towards strangers as they grow into themselves.
I seriously hope this is true, because I love my floppy, belly up, goofy girl, that's how she is with me, & she's gotten more affectionate, LOL or at least tolerant of my affection.
I don't want her behavior with me to change--if ti changes with others, fine, just not with me--(please?!)
So in being my baby, I realize that Tessa has grown, but really, she just doesn't seem that big to me, & she looks so puppy-like that I suppose in day to day living, I've just not noticed HOW MUCH she has grown from April to November.
Back in April, Tessa (& I for that matter) were startled by a big black lab mix who was running the trails without a leash & owner not in sight.
Tessa SCREAMED her puppy yelps like she was being mauled before he got close enough to even sniff her.
She was a little 12 week, 20lb twerp, with a big dog bounding straight for her.
I snatched her up & yelled at the bounding pooch to stop. When the owner rounded the bend, he assured me his pooch wouldn't hurt mine, but I was too pissed off to care at the time.
They have since played during the spring, but I hadn't seen them for months.
Also, a rottie mix female, who I thought was big, had initially gave Tessa puppy pass from 11wks til about 24 weeks, had turn to not being so pleasant when she saw Tessa, so puppy pass gone...
Then there was the huge golden retriever that Tessa just went ga-ga over, she fell HARD for this one--He'd let her crawl all over him & they wrestled & he tolerated all of her puppy-ness.
She even lost a puppy tooth on him, & left a little of her blood on his mane. This freaked out both the golden's owner & I until we realized what it was.
He was such a big boy & so very good. Tessa was beyond smitten with him!!!
I remember looking at Tessa & hoping she would be as big as him some day.
He was gone all summer. Tessa mourned & left pee-mail for him every time we passed his house.
Yesterday, by chance, all 3 of these pooches showed up at the field where I take Tessa.
I was walking Tessa to leave, we had been out for hours, no pooches around.
I saw a couple with a golden retriever approaching.
I was noting what a handsome boy he was, he was just about same size as Tessa.
I wish I had thought to take pics before the last minute-but here are a couple-but they are blurry
As they got closer--I realized this was/is the *big boy* Tessa loved.
Tessa knew who he was from 1st sight, I did not.
I changed my route & we went down to the field for a good play.
Then, 1 by 1, all the others showed up at the field.
And I got an inkling of how twisted my perception is of her size now. Tessa is now bigger than all of them.
She is about the same height as the "big" male golden, but thicker bones.
I got nervous later on when I saw the female rottie mix running down the hillside to the field, off leash, because she had stopped giving Tessa puppy pass & seemed moody back when Tessa was 6 months. I leashed Tessa & put her in a sit for the greeting. And once up close, this rottie mix looked small next to Tessa, not only in height, but in thickness. When they met-there wasn't any moodiness from the rottie mix, she acknowleged Tessa in a completely different way, like a right of passage--For Tessa.
It was all so odd.
I had a moment where I felt like all of these dogs MUST have SHRUNKEN--these were the big dogs of the neighborhood.
It was an Alice In Wonderland moment.
****Then reality hit that this was not the case--it was just my skewed perception****
While Tessa was wrestlng with the pooches, I said to the owner of the black lab mix--"remember when Tessa was so afraid of your boy she screeched like he was killing her?"
We just laughed, cuz Tessa is a full head taller & can & does totally knock him over.
He seemed so big back then- they all did.
Also funny/weird/somewhat uncomfortable:
the black lab's owner (the husband-the wife wasn't present-) seemed to hit a point where he needed to somehow prove his dog was bigger than mine.
Must be a guy thing.
He behaves differently when the wife isn't there-& so does his dog-who is unfixed & likes to hump-but doesn't do it when mom is around...
Anyway, it wasn't a contest, I wasn't competing, but it was important enough to this guy--he told me his dog weighed more than mine.
He told me his dog weighed 80-85 lbs, & was muscular & Tessa was not (???)
I mentioned I haven't weighed Tessa since she was about 42-47 lbs, since she could no longer be placed on the table scale at my vets-which only goes to 50lbs-because their floor scale at the vet is broken.
But that I thought she was somewhere around the same weight, maybe 75lbs, as she has not started to fill out yet, but her bones are big/thick.
I thought that was the end of it, & I was off to the retriever's owners to catch up.
I was wrong.
He actually felt the need to pick up his dog, put him down, then try to pick Tessa up, of which he could not get her off of the ground, to proclaim loudly he was sure Tessa weighed less than his dog...
She wriggled & didn't like it at all but didn't bite, but stayed away from him after that.
I said--you're lucky she's still a pup & let you do that!
I'm thinking to myself--"idiot!"
He kept on about it, & engaged the golden retrieves owners, who said their boy is a solid 90lbs,& Tessa is the same size as him, but with bigger bones, so even if she has a lot of fur, she was going to fill out to be at least 90 regardless, they discussed this matter of factly, & black lab guy just seemed peeved.
For whatever reason, now that my dog *IS* bigger, she cannot be bigger than his....whatever.
Apparently it's a pissing contest LOL
She is still my delicate little flower.
She is a baby still, & will always be *my baby*.
I've heard TM's usually remain soft with their owners, despite being guardy towards strangers as they grow into themselves.
I seriously hope this is true, because I love my floppy, belly up, goofy girl, that's how she is with me, & she's gotten more affectionate, LOL or at least tolerant of my affection.
I don't want her behavior with me to change--if ti changes with others, fine, just not with me--(please?!)
So in being my baby, I realize that Tessa has grown, but really, she just doesn't seem that big to me, & she looks so puppy-like that I suppose in day to day living, I've just not noticed HOW MUCH she has grown from April to November.
Back in April, Tessa (& I for that matter) were startled by a big black lab mix who was running the trails without a leash & owner not in sight.
Tessa SCREAMED her puppy yelps like she was being mauled before he got close enough to even sniff her.
She was a little 12 week, 20lb twerp, with a big dog bounding straight for her.
I snatched her up & yelled at the bounding pooch to stop. When the owner rounded the bend, he assured me his pooch wouldn't hurt mine, but I was too pissed off to care at the time.
They have since played during the spring, but I hadn't seen them for months.
Also, a rottie mix female, who I thought was big, had initially gave Tessa puppy pass from 11wks til about 24 weeks, had turn to not being so pleasant when she saw Tessa, so puppy pass gone...
Then there was the huge golden retriever that Tessa just went ga-ga over, she fell HARD for this one--He'd let her crawl all over him & they wrestled & he tolerated all of her puppy-ness.
She even lost a puppy tooth on him, & left a little of her blood on his mane. This freaked out both the golden's owner & I until we realized what it was.
He was such a big boy & so very good. Tessa was beyond smitten with him!!!
I remember looking at Tessa & hoping she would be as big as him some day.
He was gone all summer. Tessa mourned & left pee-mail for him every time we passed his house.
Yesterday, by chance, all 3 of these pooches showed up at the field where I take Tessa.
I was walking Tessa to leave, we had been out for hours, no pooches around.
I saw a couple with a golden retriever approaching.
I was noting what a handsome boy he was, he was just about same size as Tessa.
I wish I had thought to take pics before the last minute-but here are a couple-but they are blurry
As they got closer--I realized this was/is the *big boy* Tessa loved.
Tessa knew who he was from 1st sight, I did not.
I changed my route & we went down to the field for a good play.
Then, 1 by 1, all the others showed up at the field.
And I got an inkling of how twisted my perception is of her size now. Tessa is now bigger than all of them.
She is about the same height as the "big" male golden, but thicker bones.
I got nervous later on when I saw the female rottie mix running down the hillside to the field, off leash, because she had stopped giving Tessa puppy pass & seemed moody back when Tessa was 6 months. I leashed Tessa & put her in a sit for the greeting. And once up close, this rottie mix looked small next to Tessa, not only in height, but in thickness. When they met-there wasn't any moodiness from the rottie mix, she acknowleged Tessa in a completely different way, like a right of passage--For Tessa.
It was all so odd.
I had a moment where I felt like all of these dogs MUST have SHRUNKEN--these were the big dogs of the neighborhood.
It was an Alice In Wonderland moment.
****Then reality hit that this was not the case--it was just my skewed perception****
While Tessa was wrestlng with the pooches, I said to the owner of the black lab mix--"remember when Tessa was so afraid of your boy she screeched like he was killing her?"
We just laughed, cuz Tessa is a full head taller & can & does totally knock him over.
He seemed so big back then- they all did.
Also funny/weird/somewhat uncomfortable:
the black lab's owner (the husband-the wife wasn't present-) seemed to hit a point where he needed to somehow prove his dog was bigger than mine.
Must be a guy thing.
He behaves differently when the wife isn't there-& so does his dog-who is unfixed & likes to hump-but doesn't do it when mom is around...
Anyway, it wasn't a contest, I wasn't competing, but it was important enough to this guy--he told me his dog weighed more than mine.
He told me his dog weighed 80-85 lbs, & was muscular & Tessa was not (???)
I mentioned I haven't weighed Tessa since she was about 42-47 lbs, since she could no longer be placed on the table scale at my vets-which only goes to 50lbs-because their floor scale at the vet is broken.
But that I thought she was somewhere around the same weight, maybe 75lbs, as she has not started to fill out yet, but her bones are big/thick.
I thought that was the end of it, & I was off to the retriever's owners to catch up.
I was wrong.
He actually felt the need to pick up his dog, put him down, then try to pick Tessa up, of which he could not get her off of the ground, to proclaim loudly he was sure Tessa weighed less than his dog...
She wriggled & didn't like it at all but didn't bite, but stayed away from him after that.
I said--you're lucky she's still a pup & let you do that!
I'm thinking to myself--"idiot!"
He kept on about it, & engaged the golden retrieves owners, who said their boy is a solid 90lbs,& Tessa is the same size as him, but with bigger bones, so even if she has a lot of fur, she was going to fill out to be at least 90 regardless, they discussed this matter of factly, & black lab guy just seemed peeved.
For whatever reason, now that my dog *IS* bigger, she cannot be bigger than his....whatever.
Apparently it's a pissing contest LOL
