We have a new arrival in our home – a puppy. My daughter had been wanting a playmate for her dog, Sonny, because any time she is outside with him all of her attention has to be focused on throwing him his ball. Sonny likes constant action, even if my daughter is trying to get some chores done around the backyard.

Part of wanting to get another dog is also that my granddaughter Lorelei is more than happy to engage with Sonny … but she is not exactly gentle. Even though Sonny the Corgi outweighs her and certainly could knock her down, he runs away as fast as he can when the four-year-old is bugging him.

So, the decision was made to introduce a new dog to the home – Georgia is another Corgi; she is long-haired, as opposed to the short hair that Sonny has, and she weighs the same as a five-pound bag of sugar. She’s pretty much the same size and shape of it, too.

We are all trying to get used to the new routine, making sure we get her outside often enough so there are no accidents in the house, and reminding Lorelei constantly to not leave any small toys or items on the floor that little Georgia would be certain to find and probably try to eat.

My granddaughter enthusiastically welcomed Georgia to the household by informing the little Corgi that “I’m your mommy, Georgia” though Lorelei has not expressed any interest in cleaning up after her “daughter” should there be a potty incident inside.

Mimi already blew it once; I was puppysitting and was busy in the kitchen one evening when Georgia had already been put in her crate and been told good night. She was crying a little bit and I mistakenly thought it was because she didn’t want to go to bed. Turns out she wanted to get out to go outside and do her business, which she ended up having to do in her crate. Totally my fault; I don’t yet know her “I have to go” whine/cry from her “I don’t want to go to bed” whine/cry.

The other afternoon when Lorelei and I were home we had Georgia out and about and I discovered she is very fond of attacking your feet. Luckily, I was able to pry her off my toe and interest her in one of her dog toys.

Sonny is being a pretty good big brother. He does hover close when she’s eating in case she leaves a tiny fleck of food in her dish that he needs to clean up. One night shortly after she arrived, there were some fireworks going off nearby and Sonny settled in right beside her to offer some comfort and protection.

And even though he outweighs her by almost 30 pounds, Georgia has no problem playing and roughhousing with him. She kind of launches herself at him and they wrestle for a bit; Sonny likes to give his fiercest growl but is actually quite gentle as he puts a paw on her for the takedown. She likes to chase him around in the backyard and more often than not trips herself up in her haste; her short legs can’t carry her as fast as she wants to go. No problem, though, she just does a little barrel roll and gets right back up.

And when she’s done, when she has tired herself out, she literally can collapse anywhere and be asleep in about 10 seconds, taking a nap to recharge so we can do it all over again.

Never a dull moment.

Marg Jackson is editor of The Oakdale Leader, The Escalon Times and The Riverbank News. She may be reached at mjackson@oakdaleleader.com or by calling 209-847-3021.