Little Guests and Spinning Maddness

I've decided that the size of the dog is inversely proportional to the amount of that dog's 'tude. Of course, I only have one data point, and I have met several well mannered littles that blows my hackney theory out of the water, but boy oh boy was yesterday rough.

Meet Precious.
Upon our first meeting, I could not help but think that her name was some huge joke, because her behavior wasn't, um, endearing. I have never had a dog lunge at me before and try to bite me. She was on a leash, thankfully, but she was trying to bite through my shoe at my toes. Oy, I think it was at about that moment that I realized I was in for a looooooong day. Since I couldn't handle her without getting beat up, the person who transported Precious to me had to put her in her crate and help me load her into my car. Upon which Precious started yeowling. Thankfully, my house was not far away from the pick up point.

I was keeping her at my place for a day until her foster mom could pick her up. This little girl came all the way from Reno, where she was formerly a princess living with an elderly couple. One of her persons died, and the other went to assisted living, leaving poor Precious in a lurch. A kind person with a much bigger heart than mine decided to take her on as a foster dog. Precious didn't do well in the shelter environment because she would pull that same stunt pulled on me (lunging, biting, screaming) to potential adopters. Not good. It's obvious that Precious was never socialized with people and other dogs.

While I was driving back to my house with a screaming doxiwawa (dachshund and chihuahua mix) in my backseat, I was wondering how the hell I was going to let her out of her crate for a potty break. I was fearful that she would try to bite me as soon as I let her out. But guess what? The little miss became all smiles and sunshine when I was carrying her crate into the backyard. She was wagging her tail and making little whiny let-me-out noises. Since her body language was friendly, I let her out and she bounded over to me for some pets. Huh. Maybe Precious is bipolar.

Vespa is great with the little dogs. She thinks they are all puppies since we occasional foster puppies from the shelter in need a crash course in doggy and human manners. So, I took Vespa into the backyard and let her meet Precious. Vespa gave me this horrified look, raised her hackles, and yelped as Precious charged at her and tried to bite her in the nose when Vespa was about to do the "nice to meet you" butt sniff. A little barking ensued, but the two of them worked it out and Vespa kept her snout away from the little bitey one. By the time Precious had to leave, she was following Vespa around the house. That's my girl!

Precious went off with her foster mom, and peace returned to the house. I was able to get more work done (hard to get work done when there is a super reactive dog screaming). I was also able to, you guessed it, spin!

Okay, so this yarn isn't going to win any beauty contests, and I probably won't even knit with it after I ply it, but it was good practice. It looks a lot better than my first attempt...

I'm used to a drop spindle, so all these things to adjust (tension knob, whorl, bobbin) takes a while to get used to. As embarassing as these first attempts are, I'm hoping to chronicle my improvement. Someday, I'll look back on this and laugh. Someday... Just not now.