Damien's Place

Damien is a Miniature Pinscher or Min Pin for short. He was born on August 3, 1997 and I adopted him (or should I say, he adopted me) when he was only 5 1/2 weeks old. When I went and saw all his brothers and sisters, he was the only one who interacted with me. Even at such a young age, he was all waggy and snugly and kissy. His full name is Damien Waggy Boo. Want to see his family tree and see if we're related? Click here:Damien Waggy Boo

When I first brought him home, he cried all night long because he was so lonely in his crate. Of course, I had to put him in bed with me just to comfort him (or me, I haven't decided which yet). But, with a 3 lb little puppy in your bed, its difficult to sleep because I was so afraid I was going to roll over on him! However, now he weighs 18 lbs which is huge for a Min Pin (8 - 10 lbs is standard), so now I worry about him rolling over on me instead!

As winter came around (and everyone knows how cold it gets here in Southern California) precautions had to be taken to make sure Dami didn't catch a cold. So,he got his first addition to his wardrobe, his designer tube sock sweater! As you can see, he was very proud of it!

When he was four months old, we started puppy school. At first, he was so small, it was difficult for him to get into trouble. However, by the end of the session, Dami spent more time in "time-outs" then he did actually learning. Jim, our instructor, I believe, was ready to throw us out of class. Every five minutes, he would come over, take Dami from me and go tie him in the corner!

Dami quickly learned how to behave (since he hates being away from his Mommy!). I am happy to report that now, Dami's favorite person (outside of Mom) is Jim (of course, Jim always has treats!) and Jim says that Dami has grown on him. Dami is also very fast and full of energy so we are taking Agility training.

Dami is a very happy pup! Although, he is not very good with strangers (he is my big protector after all, beware strangers, this is one attack dog you don't want to mess with!) once he knows you, he loves to give kisses and gets all waggy when he sees you.

In July, 1999, Dami took his first trip. We went to Michigan to visit my family and Dami got to go on the airplane with me and sit under my seat. He was really good and slept the whole flight (of course, the little pills the vet gave me might have had something to do with that!) Anyway, Dami had a wonderful time in Michigan. He terrorized my mom's cats by barking and chasing them. He refused to sit in his Grandpa's lap to be petted. He refused to go outside if I wasn't there, my sister had to come over and corner him one day when I was gone the whole day just to get him to go outside to go potty.

But, of course to look at him, you would think he is the most innocent, sweetest puppy in the world! Of course, Malachi, my bird doesn't think he's so innocent. Mal just hates when Dami tries to get all friendly! Guess Mal just doesn't understand that Dami is only interested in stealing Mal's food and treats not eating Mal himself.

Dami also has a new best friend. Jim's dog Stoley is Dami's new girlfriend (oops, I'm not supposed to say the "g" word in front of him, he gets embarrassed!) He loves to play with Stoley and when she comes over, he hides all his toys so she can't play with them. Gilbey has started to play with them too. They chase each other around and knock Rea and Carrie down if they happen to get in the way. The three of them chase each other all over my apartment and use my bed as their "change direction" spot. By the end of a play session, I have no sheets or covers left on my bed. They definitely have a blast playing with each other!

1999 - Dami is such a good boy! His obedience trraining is going so well that we just started agility classes at the end of January! Dami loves class. He gets so wound up wanting to do everything at once, play with the other dogs, and get treats from everyone! He wears me out just watching him. He loves the tunnels and dog walk. I even think he likes the jumps. Of course, his favorite part is that he gets treats after every obstacle! We still need to work on sit stays with all the distractions and getting him to actually lie down on the ground outside! (Eww mom, the ground is cold and dirty and you want me to do what?!?)

Dami is doing wonderful! I can finally leave him uncrated during the day when I'm at work. Of course, I probably could for a while, but was just too chicken to try. The first time I left him out, well over a year ago, I came home to find he had eaten the cord off of my tv. He chewed it right in half, leaving it in two pieces with the one end still plugged into the wall! However, he is now all grown up and well behaved! A few months ago, we found out that he has a collapsed trachea. I'm not going to continue agility with him for this reason :-( We did take a clicker training class and had a blast. I can't believe how great clicker training works. Dami is just an incredible dog though too, so maybe that had something to do with how well he did with the training. But then again, I'm probably biased :-)

On February 21, 2000 Dami lost his sister Carrie. Dami was pretty attached to her and he is still mourning her. He went to the vet with us when we had Carrie put down. (We put him in the car before we actually euthanized her because we didn't feel he should be present.) A few days later, I took him back in for a recheck and once we got there, he started barking like crazy. There was no one else there as it was almost closing time and I couldn't figure out what he was barking at. It finally hit me that he was probably looking for Carrie since he knew we left her there a few days before. I felt really bad for him, but I'm sure that he could sense she was sick and hope he knows about Rainbow Bridge.

December 2000. The same year Dami lost his canine sister, he gained a human one. Abigail was born 12/22/2000. Dami absolutely adores her. This picture, a repeat from the main page, is one of my all time favorites. It was taken on Valentine's Day 2001. Abby was almost 2 months old.

Want to see my Bridge pages and meet my Bridge Angels (and Dami's sister Carrie?)

This Min Pin Ring site is owned by

Kristen Billiu.

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