pippi.

Anna Westhoff Each week, Ben Westhoff shares the ups and downs of owning Pippi, the dalmatian mix he and his wife Anna adopted as a puppy in late 2009. Anna, Pippi, and I were tremendously excited to travel to see our friends Jon and Bess. (Well, Pippi was just glad not to be headed to the kennel.) Bess is a dog lover, while Jon is an avid "Doggie Diaries" reader, so both were looking forward to meeting Pippi. But, with a little preparation. Bess recently returned from Morocco, and she brought back a beautiful silk rug which decorates now the living room. To keep it safe, she put a sheet on top of the rug, mostly covering it. ...

Anna Westhoff Each week, Ben Westhoff shares the ups and downs of owning Pippi, the dalmatian mix he and his wife Anna adopted as a puppy in late 2009, and the first dog Ben's ever had. Anna wrote this week's column. Pippi does not like people to mess with her body. Stay away from her toenails. Forget about applying that flea-and-tick preventative between her shoulders. And keep out of her ears! Whenever I've tried to clip Pippi's nails or squeeze any medicine onto her, the results have been near disastrous. She tucks her tail between her legs, scurries around, pees and then hides in the corner under the kitchen table. When I finally get down to business, she wiggles violently, and if I ...

Anna While I'm out of town, this week's guest columnist is my wife Anna. Take it away! With Ben gone, I have brazenly broken our agreement not to allow Pippi on the bed. She absolutely loves our bed and snuggling up to me! Anyway, we woke up early one day recently – around 6:15 a.m. Without bothering to brush my teeth or wash my face, I piled on some warm clothes and bounded out the door with Pippi for a bathroom break. Everything went to plan (hooray!), but then Pippi attempted to (excuse this detail) eat some frozen poo from under a bush. I scraped it out her mouth, grabbing a handful of wet and partially masticated poo in the process. Yuck! We ran all the way down our street and ...