Meet Piper

By now you’ve read a good deal about me, gotten acquainted with my kids (in several posts such as this one), “met” my husband, and have enjoyed the entire life-story of Phelps, the frog (found here).  There remains only one member of this household that I haven’t properly introduced yet, and that is our goofy, adorable, 60-pounds-of-black-sass giant schnauzer, Piper.  

In honor of her “gotcha day” when we brought her home five years ago next Friday, I’ll dedicate this post to her.

A little backstory first:

Both my husband and I love dogs.  He grew up with a chocolate lab.  You’ve already received the rundown on my menagerie of pets (found in this post).  We knew we wanted a family dog as soon as our kids were old enough.  Once our littlest was on her feet (and less likely to crawl through puppy puddles, and able to defend herself and understand the need to be gentle) we began casually looking for a boxer mix to adopt.  I’d been perusing shelters and organizations for a couple of weeks - not really searching in earnest as much as looking at options.  One typical weekday afternoon I had to take a trip to the local pet store for some crickets for our lizard and rescued-tree-frog-turned-squatter.  While I was there a man brought in a puppy to surrender for adoption, and I immediately fell in love with her.  She was a 12 week old boxer-beagle mix.  Despite the challenges we’d have to get her through (she was underweight, covered in fleas and full of worms) and the ludicrously high “adoption fee”, she came home with us that night.  The following two weeks were some of the hardest I’ve ever been through.  

Every day showed us ever-more-clearly three critical things: 1) A healthier, thriving and wonderful little puppy, 2) an ever deepening bond between dog and kids, and 3) increasing asthma, hives and blotches on two of my kiddos.  

My oldest (who had been allergy tested when we discovered her peanut allergy) wasn’t SUPPOSED to be allergic to dogs, but her inhaler was failing to keep up, her breathing was a mess, and we were all losing sleep over it.  I knew it was likely a severe fur sensitivity.  My second, who had been around dogs before with no issues, was suddenly itchy and uncomfortable all of the time.  I made an appointment for a blood-allergen test, which confirmed that she was - indeed - allergic to “dog proteins”.  Allergy medicines might help some, but given the undesirable side-effects for her we decided it was best to find a new home for the puppy.  

Thankfully, we were able to do so locally with the perfect family, and were able to keep in touch and see her grow into a great dog for their girls, but it broke my mommy heart to watch my kids go through that.  They were devastated, and the tears flowed.  I swore we’d never get a dog again.  And we wouldn't have if it weren’t for my third-born.  Three years after the short 16 days we had with Scout, that child was still writing it down as the thing she was “most grateful for” on her Thanksgiving activities at school, and BEGGING for another dog.  Four years after the puppy she was talking about saving up for one herself.

We did some thinking and praying , and research, and thought that a Giant Schnauzer might just work for us.  We were willing to at least visit a breeder of the “hypo-allergenic” dogs, and see what happened.  No dog would be completely “safe” for my second, but one that would leave less proteins around the house by way of its hair (not fur) might be a possibility for both of them.  We found a breeder with seven dogs in her house who we could test our theory on, and we drove there and literally piled the kids on them, rubbed their faces in their coats and watched and waited.  When there were no adverse reactions by the following day, we added ourselves to the waitlist for a puppy.  

While on vacation in July of 2018 I received a message that a litter had been born, and there was a female puppy for us if we still wanted one.  She was born the day before my youngest daughter’s 7th birthday.  We picked her out and watched her grow up in the videos that the breeder posted.

That September we drove back to the breeder to bring her home.  We have not once regretted that.  She really is a great dog, despite the things I say when I’m cleaning up vomited hair-ties or combing burs from her beard and legs.

Piper was named after the sand-pipers that scurry along the beaches of our favorite vacation town.  The one we were at when we learned of her.  Ironically, the beach is her favorite place to be.  

Sometimes she’s really smart~ 

Each day Piper is to get one mint-flavored dental treat, to help with maintaining her oral health.  She loves these treats so much that it’s crazy, but she really should only have one per day.  So we often ask around the house before giving it to her, to make sure that nobody else already has.  The goober got so used to hearing us ask about it by name that you couldn’t say the term without her begging and whining and carrying on until she got it.  Which was really annoying if she’d already had one for the day, and decided to drive everyone batty for the next hour because she’d heard the magic word.  Sooooo we started spelling the name of the treat so she wouldn’t know what we were talking about.  Within a couple of weeks she figured that out, too.  Next we just changed the word altogether.  Again, she caught on pretty quickly.  We started using various words and trying to change the tone so that it didn't really sound like a question at all.  Somehow that hair-brained dog knew what we were talking about, all the same.  I still don’t know how she knows, but she does.  As a last resort my kids would use sign language to ask around.  Any kind of odd, silent waving is all that it takes to send the dog on a flight to her cupboard these days.  She’s that kind of smart.  The kind that also never takes more than twice to learn a new “trick”, for good or for trouble.

Sometimes she’s really stupid~

We go for a walk around our neighborhood almost every day.  We have a few different routes that we choose from, but she knows them all very well.  Last summer the city put a “driver feedback” speed display sign on one of the streets we walk down.  We walked by it, where it sat maybe six feet away on the road, at least three or four times a week for the better part of a month.  Then, one completely normal Friday morning, Piper suddenly noticed the thing.  Despite the fact that it had been there for weeks - despite the fact that it wasn’t moving or making any noise - she decided that it was the most dangerous contraption on earth and that it was definitely out to do us great bodily harm.  She snuffed and growled and barked and howled and stomped at it for an embarrassingly long time while we walked past.  Another time she did something similar with an upside down flower pot in a yard.  Halloween decorations that are actually terrifying, though, are ignored completely.  She also tried to eat a rock once.

She is always insanely stubborn.  When she was still a pup we once had a half hour stand-off over her not being allowed to bring a stick in the house, and from that moment on I knew that she was going to be a challenge.  That prediction has proven true time and again.

She has a serious attitude; huffing and snorting at us like a disgruntled customer every time she doesn’t get her way or disapproves of the situation.  But she also has a face that is hard to say “no” to. 

She’s steadfastly devoted to us.  We’ve never had to “boundary train” her because she always wants to be where we are, and stays in our general proximity by choice.  She’s fiercely loyal, though when I accidentally locked her out of the house it took her approximately four minutes to abandon ship and go adopt the neighbors and try to live with them. 

She’s a terrible guard dog.  Aside from the fact that she’d be easily won over with food, she loses her head over every jogger and piece of trash blowing down the street, but slept straight through our neighbor’s house catching on fire and the whole fire department bustling around in our front yard, flashing lights and all.

She loves water.  So much.  All kinds of water: hose water, creek water, puddle water, sprinkler water, lake water… she’ll be in it.

She loves tennis balls.  About as much as she loves water; it’s hard to tell which would come out on top.

She likes to dig.  If you want to be buried on the beach she’s your hole-girl.

She sleeps like she was assembled incorrectly, and we’ve never been able to figure out why she does this…?  Weirdo. 

And she’s a snuggler.  Always has been, and probably always will be.  If you lay down, she will lay on top of you.  Every time. 

And for all of the stress and extra work, she’s a great addition to the family.  Happy “Gotcha Day” Piper Lu!