The Princess Takes a Holiday

By Fred
Wouldn't you know that Cheryl would leave town for a conference this week, leaving me to handle the princess and her first menstrual event, not to mention the discussion required here.

I learned about this the night before Cheryl left. When I asked how she knew that Berkeley was about to go into heat, she laughed and told me that Berkeley's va-jay-jay was all swollen up. Obviously it wouldn't do for me to ever say a word like that. I've learned over time, however, not to be surprised by anything that pops out of Cheryl's mouth, even made-up words like va-jay-jay. Who knows where she picks this up.

Then we saw some spotting on the doggy diapers that Cheryl tried on her. Cheryl has a funny video of this (the trying on, not the spotting). It's SEGD policy for females to stay at the facility during this period, about 21 days, and I was not reluctant to take her early the next morning, right after dropping off Cheryl at the airport.

Berkeley has been such a sweetheart for the past few days, occasionally looking at us with a squint like she did not feel well, as in this photo of her just outside the puppy kennel at SEGD, where I reflexively told her that she was a very pretty and good girl and that things would all be better very soon.

She perked up quite a bit when we went inside and learned that she would be sharing a kennel with another female in the very same condition, so I can't imagine that she will be disappointed with the loss of my company.

The house is pretty quiet now. I'll miss Berkeley and Cheryl this week, but Willow and I will have fun, just like the old days, before puppies ruled. Then possibly we'll dog sit for a while, so Cheryl will have a dog at school. Then the princess returns, all grown up.