November 10, 2006 ~ A Gully and Her Toad
Friday.
Grove and Rose
Both Monty and Rose are very gentle and careful with Grove, but there is a definite difference between them. Monty would rather avoid Grove, and will usually get up and move when Grove approaches. The fact that Grove can move of his own accord seems to disturb Monty somewhat. Monty doesn't like it when people approach him, he'd rather they give him time to approach on his own. Monty has always been rather a one-person animal, though. He loves me. He tolerates everyone else.
But Rose. Oh Rose. She is in love with this little baby. She follows him around the house. She'll play-bow to him, rub her face with her paws, lick him, nuzzle him, give him her belly. If I put him down briefly in the play pen so that I can run to the bathroom, she'll come running to me, whining, with concern written all over her face if he starts crying. She often howls at him if he starts singing or yelling.
And the feeling is mutual; Grove adores Rose. From a very early age, he'd squeal in delight as soon as she entered the room. When she played or chased her tail or howled or talked, he would wiggle with delight and sometimes mimic her howling.
I found a huge stuffed toy lion at the Good Will. When I showed it to Grove for the first time, he squealed with excitement and gave it a hug, and then looked very confused when it fell over and didn't move. He thought it was Rose. It's eyes looked like her eyes, and its coloring was similar. He was heartbroken when "Rose" wouldn't lick him or nuzzle him.
One day Grove was in his play pen and Rose was laying beside it. The lion was sitting up between them, and Grove could not see Rose. She started to whine at him, wanting to play. He laughed and hugged the lion. She whined. He giggled and hugged the lion. As she continued to whine, he started cracking up, so happy that the lion "Rose" was finally showing signs of life.
We are trying to teach Grove not to pull fur or mess with paws, and we have made some progress, be it slow. In the mean time, however, Rose is entirely too tolerant. He crawls all over her, and she doesn't mind. He pulls her ears or plays with her toes, she just watches mildly and licks him occasionally. I caught him a second too late the other day, sticking his finger into her eye and she didn't even complain at that.
In the morning, first thing after she gets up, Rose comes to check on Grove, sniff him over, give him a few licks or nuzzles. In the afternoons she sits and watches him play, occasionally coming over to sniff or lick him.
And he laughs and laughs and laughs at her antics. He could spend hours with his hands in her fur.
These two are going to be best friends, I know it.
my Toad and my Gully
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