Momma wouldn’t like me saying this because she is no fan of Hillary Clinton’s – but apparently it does take a village to raise me.  Let me explain.

No sooner had Momma brought me to the frozen tundra of Minnesota than she decided she had to return to Florida.  It seems she needed to “prepare” for my visit to her place there and buy a few staples for me.  (I still don’t know why she couldn’t have picked up my cheap dog crate when I came down with her after Christmas.)  I also don’t know how she picked up a tan if she was spending all of her time getting things ready for me.

The only upside to the whole thing was that Momma hired Dr. Becca to dogsit for me.  Dr. Becca is fantastic!  She is an animal chiropractor and has a practice called PerPETtual Motion.  You can just tell by the name that she knows what she’s doing when it comes to puppies (unlike some people in my life).  Dr. Becca played with me, petted me and taught me new tricks.  She also fed me on time and routinely took me out to go potty (and she didn’t scream “potty” every ten seconds like I didn’t know why I was outside freezing my butt off in the sub zero weather).  Dr. Becca even did her paperwork from home one day so she could spend more time with me.

Another day she asked my nanny, Becky (yes I have also have a nanny because I am too much for Momma to handle – even though she doesn’t appear to have a job) to stop by and keep me company.  By the way, I love my nanny – she’s the best.  Anyway as it turns out those four days when Momma was in Florida were some of the best of my life so far.

Even in Florida, though, Momma made her presence known.  One day she sent me the following text on Dr. Becca’s cell phone (and I’m quoting):

Hi Princess – Momma here.  Are you being good?  You better be or you are not coming to Florida with me.  I hope you are cooperating with the potty training.  Remember to ONLY go outside or on the training pad.  Be nice to Dr. Becca or she won’t come back – and then I’m going to have to find a foster home for you.  They won’t care that you like pink camo coats or Bil Jac treats.  Just saying.  Okay – good night now.

Luckily Dr. Becca saw the text and assured me that she would come back and care for me anytime.  However, nothing I said  could convince her to cross Momma and become my foster mother.

Another person I would like to have as a foster mother is Nanny Becky.  She loves me with all her heart and would do anything for me – and often has to.  For example, one night I got sick in my crate and accidentally stepped in my mess.  Momma found me in the morning and of course couldn’t deal with the situation (I did weigh about 5 pounds at the time after all) so she called Nanny.  Nanny rushed right over and washed me in the laundry tub – it wasn’t that difficult.

After my bath with Nanny!

And when we finally got to Florida, Momma had no trouble enlisting help from almost perfect strangers.  Would you believe she asked the construction superintendent on her building project to change my pee pad when she was out playing golf?  And even though Brian has a job, he managed to find time to help out!

In case any of my caregivers are reading this, many thanks and a big face lick from me.  And Hillary was right – it does take a village.

Lina, Village Dog

WOOFDA!