the more Pais the merrier!

(Making my surname plural always looks weird to me, because in Spanish the word pais (pronounced “pie-EES”) means country. Which of course has nothing to do with a group of people with the last name Pai.)

Anyway!  I have more Pais in my life, both the human and the canine variety.  So firstly, the new (to me anyway) relatives…

Oh the wonders of Facebook!  A couple weeks ago Ush found a few of his cousins from his dad’s side on Facebook.  They live in India and haven’t seen each other in at least a decade.  Lo and behold, the eldest, Vivek, was soon going to be in London on business!

So, yesterday he came round for a visit.  It was fun to meet another Pai and hear stories about all of them growing up (including Viv’s younger sisters Vidya and Vinaya).  Apparently there is going to be a wedding in Dehli next spring…. That may just be next year’s holiday plans settled!!! We’ll see

Today Ush headed off again with Vivek and I have stayed behind with the dogs.

Which brings me to the canine Pai.  On Thursday evening, we brought Sadie home (who came with the name Lady, but Ush didn’t like that name and seeing as she doesn’t even know her name because she’s never been off the leash let alone given ANY obedience training.  Grrr.. Moving on… Anyway, we’ve decided to call her Sadie. (or Saydee? Not sure actually.))

I just want to clarify that we are currently fostering her.  Read: I couldn’t really bear to take her back to her previous owners and thus am currently doing my damndest not to fall in love with her until we are certain that she is a good match for Toby.  If it doesn’t work out – well, then we will have cleaned her up, had her spayed (I so agree with Bob Barker on this one), given her basic obedience training, and can make for damn sure she goes to a GOOD home who really want her and will care for her properly.

She’s a sweet 14-month old blenheim (brown and white) with the cutest lip flaps (actually jowls, but I like to call them lip flaps. And I love the slapping noise they make when she shakes her head!).  Thankfully, she’s totally housetrained.  And she doesn’t mess about when we let her outside.  She steps out onto the grass, does her business, and then comes back in.  None of this taking an hour to choose the right spot like Toby does.

But I digress!  The obedience training bit is tough, but she’s a quick learner.  Funny thing is, though she’s younger than Toby, she quickly became alpha over him.  We’re told that’s pretty common with females, and coupled with the facts that she’s currently in heat and Toby is uber submissive anyway, I guess that was to be expected!  But she isn’t dominant or aggressive, which is great.  She just makes sure that she goes out the door first and he can only have a toy after she’s finished playing with it.  He is adjusting to this arrangement, unsure still of what the rules are.

So!  I will hopefully get some photos up for you soon.  I don’t have a camera anymore, remember?  Nor do I have a mobile phone with a good camera.  So I’ll have to wait until Ush is back and can upload some that he’s taken.  But trust, she’s a cutie.