The Adventures of Kosmo and Faith

Today marks day 9 of Faith's Atopica. It's also the third day that I've noticed some subtle changes in her.

Day before yesterday, she actually initiated play with me! I was so excited! I was petting her tummy and all of a sudden she started batting my hands and making that low play growl. I can never turn down a good play session, so we played the blanket game for a while. Faith and her blanket game are silly.. !! Her daddy taught it to her when she was little. Basically, if you put your hands in the blanket and bat at her, she can bite as hard as she wants.. She gets so into it! As soon as your hands come out, it's over and she knows it. I'm not quite sure I'm a HUGE fan of the blanket game, but it's one of the only ways Faith plays with us, so I'll take it!

Yesterday I took the dogs to the sales center of the homes that we live in to visit one of my friends. She was having a bad day. I decided that Kosmo and Faith make me happy when I am sad, so why not her? :) I took them in and Faith was SO outgoing with everybody. There were two people who came in while we were visiting and she actually jumped up on one of them and attempted a kiss!! Now those of you who know Faith would know this is completely out of her "comfort zone" and she would never do this with a stranger. . . Unless it was a kid, in which case she just sits there and soaks up pets. I've rarely seen her kiss even a kid though.

This morning I took the dogs down to the basement to go out and go to the bathroom. I was shuffling through the Christmas stuff and I came across a little squeaky plush reindeer. I threw it on the ground and *GASP* Faith actually played fetch with it!! The ONLY toys she has ever shown interest in are the flying squirrel chuck it toy and the kong wubba so this was a huge thing for her. She and Kosmo would argue over who got to it first and then they would tug all the way back to me. She hasn't done this for a few months, so it really excited me! One of the funniest things about her is the way she "shakes" her toys. I have mentioned before that she was born in a puppy mill, and unfortunately this mill takes babies from their mommy at 5 weeks of age. :( Faith was shipped around the country and then back and I picked her up at 10 weeks. Because of all of this, I wonder how much play time she got when she was younger and if this is the reason she hardly ever plays with toys and has never destroyed one. She makes me laugh because of the way she shakes her toys. You know when most dogs tug they shake it back and forth? Well, Faith shakes like she just got out of the bath and she's shaking water off of her back. She's ALWAYS shook that way and it cracks me up even until today!

This is just an update on her. :) Soon I'll try to post some pictures of her. Cross your fingers she continues to do well, please! :)