Truffles, Newly Dubbed "Troubles," Goes To Her First Social

It's tough not to kick the other dogs when I feel they're being too rough with Truffles, but she's a tough nugget. We took her to a puppy social at Paws'n'Effect and she was the cutest dog there. Those other puppies were ok, I mean, I wouldn't turn them into Chinese food, but Truffles was the cutest and the smartest. She was also the only one to pee in the middle of the gymnasium while everyone was playing nicely. She loves to rough house, herd cats, put everything in her mouth, and bark when someone's on the phone. She is very close to being housebroken. Her last major accident was at someone else's house, where she dropped a deuce on their coffee table. They were kind enough to babysit while my husband and I were gone for the day, but we haven't heard from them since then. She hasn't desecrated any more table tops, but I did have to take her out at 4 in the morning on Thursday, while my husband was traveling on business, and I was too groggy that early, placed her on the floor while I put on shoes, and she squatted on the little rug near the door. I picked her up quickly, in an attempt to get her to hold it until we got outside, but it had already started and instead she sprayed it all over the floor, my pants and my shoes. On the plus side, this is what she looks like when she runs:

She's a puppy, so naturally a bit of a handful, but sometimes I need a break. On Friday, I had a project I really really needed to finish - so Truffles went to the office for the day. My husband called me four times over the course of the day to either complain about how awful Truffles was behaving or to ask inane questions like "why is she doing so much barking?" Another tough thing about having a puppy is that the vet can't stop herself from using babytalk, even with me. I'm not comfortable in a professional or medical setting when you use babytalk to communicate with me. There are boundaries none of us should cross. Here's Truffles on a play date with the giantest dog I know:

I've noticed that since she's entered our lives, it's all I talk about. It's an ugly view of what I'll be like as a parent and I worry that people will stop associating with me if I'm that annoying about a real baby. I mean, not that Truffles isn't a real baby - I even recreated a birth sequence when she first came home using couch cushions like I saw some cult therapists doing on an episode of Law & Order, but a human baby would just bring out my worst inane self. In the pet store yesterday, my husband put the smackdown on my buying Truffles a few outfits for a photo shoot, which was probably good for everyone's sanity. I need to work harder at not being too obsessed with my puppy. It's weird.