Photo: Newscoma
In today's Daily News Journal, there's an article I read with some interest- people are lobbying at the state Capitol to get some Tennessee laws changed to better help animals. These primarily are aimed at puppy mills and dogfighters.

One of the comments is the one that interested me the most- they said it should be illegal to sell puppies in store parking lots. I cannot agree more. In Murfreesboro, where the article was written, there are at least 2 different places where people gather to sell puppies- the WalMart parking lot and the Target parking lot. I doubt it would be that hard to pass a city ordinance disallowing these sorts of sales.

Of course, one of the other things I wonder is why the owners of these lots don't call the police and make them get off the lot- wouldn't it already fall under loitering? If for no other reason, really, than it slows traffic and makes these lots a pain to navigate. The real reason, however, is because we should be sending a message to these backyard breeders and puppy mills that selling unhealthy, overbred animals is simply not okay.

Will the city pay attention and consider an ordinance against this? Time will only tell.

It's funny to watch Kitty as she learns more about having puppy manners and how to deal with the people and animals in our house. She hasn't quite figured out that the big cats are not her friends and do not want to play. BabyCat loves her and will play with her all day, as long as she's not interrupting important things, like naps and eating.

Tiny avoids her. He is not the sort of dog to play with other dogs, or people, or anything else. Kitty is beginning to figure this out and is starting to leave Tiny alone. Poor girl, I suspect she thinks she's some kind of dog pariah, since my mom's dogs do the same whenever she comes over.

Still, she's doing well in her training. She's learned how to sit, stay (kind of, ha), "beg pretty", and to sneeze on command. (Most of the time) She's learning that outside is the place to pee and poop, and she's learning "go get it", "bring it", and "drop it". She's a smart dog and picks up on things quickly, luckily.

Well, she's quick to learn everything but that the big cats aren't her friends. Spike is sort of warming up to her and might actually play with her someday. Simon probably never will.

Since I can't find my camera to give you all pictures of my puppy, here's Newscoma's puppies. More here.

Head over to Home Ec 101 where I'm looking for puppy cleanup tips, and any housebreaking hints you happen to want to give. Long story short, I'm cleaning up a lot of puppy pee and I needs help. Comment here or there and let me know what you think!

Kitty went to the vet today to get her second set of shots and a general checkup. She's doing great, she's up to five and a half pounds, up from the 3 pounds since the last visit. It does seem like she grows every day. I really need to get better about taking new pictures of her, since I've gotten lazy about that lately and she's growing so much.

She does 2 tricks, she'll "beg pretty" by sitting up for a treat, and I totally stole the idea of the video I posted awhile back and taught her to sneeze on command. She does it, most of the time, although she wouldn't do it in the outer part of the vet's office today. She did do it for the vet and his assistant though, so I was glad she did it for someone, ha.

It's such a joy to watch her grow up like this. All the other dogs I've had have been rescues and they've had lives before they met me that I know nothing about. Kitty, I've known since the day she was born and it's amazing to watch her grow up right before my eyes.