The moment we saw the deer, Nami squealed in delight and ran over.

"Reindeer puppies!" she squeaked.

Casey and I chuckled. "No honey," Casey corrected her, "these are elk puppies. You see the sign? It says the girls don't grow antlers."

But Nami wasn't paying any attention. She'd found a dalmatian and was petting it gently, whispering, "Spotty puppy!"

We chatted with the zoo attendant while Nami played with the puppies. Casey let slip that she loved the bunny puppies, and the attendant brought some over for us to pet. She explained that they had to keep them separate, because once they grew into bunny dogs they started copulating like crazy. When Nami came over to ask us why we were laughing, we told her it was nothing and asked her if she wanted to see the leopard puppies.

The zoo was holding a special show with the leopard puppies. They were explaining how leopard dogs used to be leopard cats, until humans stepped in with their breeding programs. Afterward, everyone got to pet the leopard puppies and feed them treats. Nami hugged one of them and whispered, "Spotty kitty puppy!"

After that it was the exotic kennels, with tapir puppies, okapi puppies, and capybara puppies. Casey really liked the capybara puppies, but Nami caught sight of the peccary puppies and we were off. By the time we caught up, she was waist deep in them, petting them all and whispering, "Spotty piggy puppies!"

We spent the rest of the afternoon going from puppy to puppy, petting them and feeding them and whispering to them. There were bat puppies and lizard puppies and monkey puppies and seal puppies. Nami petted them all while we chased after her.

Finally we ran out of puppies. Nami wanted to start all over again, but Casey put her foot down.

"Come on, honey, we have to go," she insisted. "Come on, they're closing. No, we can't see any more puppies!"

"Momma's right, sweetie," I backed her up. "There are no more puppies. Hey, you know where there's another puppy? At home!"

Nami scoffed. "Yeah, but that's just a doggy puppy, Daddy. That's boring!"

Casey and I chuckled wearily, scooped her up, and took her home.