Picture a Day - Day 251

Forgive me for all the adorable puppy pictures, but I took about a wedding's worth over the weekend and some of them are just so damn cute I want to share. But I realize that it can get a bit dull and all having to see the same thing over and over again so tomorrow I'll come up with something else.

For now, I want to introduce you all to the newest addition to our family (though she won't actually be in our home til this weekend, so expect pictures then).
Meet our little Esme:For all you non Discworld fans who are probably wondering just what the hell does EZ-ME mean and come from, Esme (short for Esmerelda) is the first name of one Granny Weatherwax, the lead witch from the tiny kingdom of Lancre.

That's why our girl's official AKC name is going to be Calpurnia's (her mother, who she's the spitting image of) Witch of Lancre.

Just how much does our little girl fit the persona of Granny, a woman who could bend steel with the power of her will? One of those old ladies that turns you into a pile of nervous blubbering as they stare into your very soul and pass judgement on you? You know, like a strict grade school teacher.

For starters our little girl is the runt of the pack so she's got to rely more on her wiles to get her way instead of just barreling through her bigger brothers and sisters. As we watched her play/fight, her general approach if another puppy was trying to instigate something was to dart off so that the offender would crash into another pair of puppies fighting and get absorbed into that fight leaving her free to go chew on her stick.She's also a watcher. While the other puppies would bound around chasing and chewing on each other, little Esme would plop her butt on the ground and just stare at something trying to understand it. Almost as though she was categorizing it for further study.

If that doesn't sound like the start of her own puppy headology then I don't know what will.We're not sure if she's going to be the most affectionate dog. Her mother behaves more like a cat deciding on her terms when she wants love and attention, which is a complete contrast to her father who would lick a couple layers of skin off you if he had the chance.

When we first arrived Esme kept her distance from us, getting close enough to inspect us but maintaining a little 2 foot bubble around us. After spending some one on one time with her, she started to warm up more so now she'll come running to see us and give a little lick on the nose (she really loves the nose for some reason) and then want to head off to play.For good or more likely ill, she's going to be one smart cookie and I'm sure we'll be butting heads more than we care to admit (and saying a sad farewell to anything plastic) but we both fell pretty hard for our little blue collared Witch of Lancre.

Could be worse though, we could have gotten a large cat and named him Greebo.