The puppy eats her poop. Chews on valuable furniture, jumps on visitors, and barks furiously at passing dogs. Our friends don't like her and I don't blame them. She cost an obscene amount of money, gets filthy walking through the house, and lacks the nobility of our older lab. She has completely, from one end to the other, digested all of my son's plastic army men.

At night she jumps on the bed, flips to her back, and snuggles up to the heat of our bodies. It's pleasing and cozy.

I give her breath mints and groom her obsessively. She's terrifically cheerful when pulling the sweet peas from the garden. She loves the crotch of all pants, especially underwear. Many times a day i look at her and think " just another mothering failure." Then I lean down and pat her little head.