Sgt. Ippuni

Here's what we know about Ippuni, our little "older" brother. He's a Maltese. He's mean as dog-doody. Mom and Dad lived in Korea and got him when they were there--he was about a year old and he's thirteen now. (He yells at us in Korean sometimes but we just say intelligent poodle words back to him to confuse him.) We've heard Mom and Dad say something like, "he wasn't properly socialized." We think he's just jealous because he used to be the only fur-baby in the family until we came along. He's mean as dog-doody. You could live with us for a year and he still wouldn't let you touch him.




Ippuni, which means "cute" in Korean (and I guess he is cute if you like that sort of . . . dog), thinks he is a policeman. He enforces the "no running" rule in our house. If our two-legged siblings run, or even walk too fast, whoa! He nips at their feet. If anyone comes in the house, he barks non-stop and growls until they run in fear. He's mean as dog-doody. But, we decided long ago that we're not afraid of him. Well, not too much anyway.



Remy's favorite game is "Whack-a-Maltese." He waits until Ippuni's back is turned and then he runs up from behind and bites Ippuni's tail. Then the fun is on! Ippuni whirls around and runs growling at Remy, trying to bite his feet! Remy does some high stepping, let me tell you! Finally, Ippuni walks away only to have Remy strike again! I just stand by and bark loudly just to lend Remy some support. Mom or Dad usually stops the game saying we're being mean to Ippuni. Yeah, right. He's mean as dog-doody.



Since Ippuni is a part of our family, I do have to say that he does have his sweet moments. He likes to lick my face when I'm sleeping, although I often think it's not being sweet but instead trying to show that he's the boss and can do as he pleases. He also likes to curl up next to Remy while he's sleeping. I not so sure he's being sweet then either because Remy gets a funny look on his face and I can tell he's terrified to move for fear of being bitten! Remy s-l-o-w-l-y moves and finds another place to sleep. I think I see Ippuni smile.



Of course, little Ippuni is a suck-up to Mom and Dad. He especially protects Mom. In fact, sometimes he will enforce an imaginary force-field around Mom and if we try to get close, he attacks. Or, he guards the door of the room Mom is in. It's really annoying. Mom has to tell him to stop.



Ippuni has a thing about Aubree's hamster, Teddy. He wants to eat him. Okay, so do we. But we're better at hiding it. Here's Ippuni watching Teddy. He's probably trying to police him and make him stop running on his wheel!





That's the scoop on Ippuni. He's unique. He's small. He's cute. Did we mention he's mean as dog-doody?