Chapter 11

A Big Surprise for Plato

Plato was really suprised when Penny came home. He took to her almost instantly and was always very gentle with her. Plato had always yearned for more doggy contact time. Now, all of a sudden, here was a doggy he could pla with any time he wanted. At first it was great, but then he began to discover that the little puppy wanted to play all the time and that maybe it was possible to have too much of a good thing. She would ceaselessly chew on his muppies and ears and tail and ankles. Eventually, Plato would learn to just go inside the crate when he needed to get away from the constant gnawing.

A Gentle Big Brother

Plato has been a fantastic big brother to Penny. He has been incredibly tolerant and unceasingly gentle. When she was tiny, she would wrestle with him and if he ever accidently made her yelp, he would immediately disengage and sniff her all over to make sure she was OK. When we took Penny to the vet to get "fixed", Plato was worried sick about her and would stand around nudging us and looking uneasy.

They make a great pair. As we would take them around, people always thought they must be related. I would usually try to make a joke out of the question and say, "Sssh! Don't tell her, but she's adopted!" Alisa would scowl at me for making a joke out of it. Lately, I just say, "No -- they're not related -- they're just good friends."

Penny's Best Friend

Penny and Plato always want to come with Lucy and I when we go to the fitness club in the mornings to exercise. After, exercising, we take the doggies for a short explore around the parking lot at the fitness club and then take them to breakfast at Kelly's. One of the waitresses at Kelly's loves dogs and boxers in particular. Very soon after we got Penny, we brought her to meet Heather and she has been in love with her ever since. On cold days, we can't bring the doggies to sit in the car, but whever we do, Heather wants to go out to see Penny and Plato. She lets Penny climb all over her and lick her face. Now everytime the door open, Penny expects someone to come out and pay attention to her. Heather already has two other dogs, but I think there's a boxer in her future...

And, of course, Penny has a theme song too!