Meet the Dogs!

Meet the 3 persons…errrr, canines that basically run our house.  One was mine, one was Mr. Wonderful’s, and one was added after we were married 4 years ago.  Samson the mutt, Abby the Shih Tzu, and Max the Maltese.  At our house, we pretend to talk like they would talk if they were humans.  Kind of like that movie Homeward Bound? In fact, these 3 strongly resemble the 3 characters of that movie.  Sam is the old loyal dog who pretty much minds like he should.  Max is the hyper, naughty dog who never relaxes, and always gets in trouble, and Abby?  Well, Abby is the cat  – she likes to sleep, eat and play princess most of the time.

 

I spent time training Sam to be a good dog.  He is 13 years old and a big sweetheart.  He follows me around the house and can always be found at my feet or somewhere nearby.  Sam is patient, kind and loving and- 

Sam is loyal, dependable, and minds what he’s told to do, except when a squirrel is within 50 feet of his vision.  Then he has been known to bust thru closed doors and act like a total fool. Sam has been trying in vain to catch squirrels for the past 13 years but to no avail. More on that later!

Sam is the oldest and wisest of the three.  He regularly looks at the other 2 like “Ummmm!!! You’re gonna get in TROUBLE!”.  He knows his boundaries and stays in them, except for the squirrel chasing, which obsessed him for years with complete failure.

  But, Sam does have his battle scars.  If you look real close, you will see a discolored scar running down that back leg he’s holding up.  When we moved into our new house 3 years ago, he got out an open door, and ran across a busy street at the end of our neighborhood.  There was one car coming, and, you guessed it, Sam ran right into the speeding car.  We spent all nite with him at an after-hours clinic, and when the technician gave us the choice to fix his leg or put him to sleep, I didn’t bat an eye.  This was my friend, my partner of 13 years.  He’d been by my side thru so  many walks of life.  He was worth every penny.  

Two years after the surgery, we came home from a day at the lake.  We had left the dogs outside in the beautiful weather.  I opened the door to find a dead squirrel laying on the back steps. Now, this might totally gross some people out, but I was tickled for Sam! He finally caught a squirrel after 12 years of barking and chasing!  What a lifelong fulfillment of his dreams!  Bad leg and all! I love it when our dog’s dreams are realized.

  Oh yeah – and when he does see a squirrel, miraculously that back leg straightens right out and he can run like the wind!  I have proof.

Bustedddddddddd!

Next in the seniority line is Abby.  Abby is Mr. Wonderful’s dog.

 I found out when taking pictures of the dogs that Abby has a horrible camera aversion.  She ran away from the camera every time! I didn’t get many good pictures of Abby.

 When Mr Wonderful and I first began dating, we went to his apartment where he cooked me an amazing dinner. He made grilled pork loin roast, red potatoes, and this adorable little salad that he arranged the carrots on just- so.  We sat down to his dining room table with lit candles and I breathed a sigh of romance and content.  

And then Abby jumped up on the chair across from me.  

And put her paws on the table. 

 

I sat there in shock. 

You see, as much as I love my dog, I was raised in a proper home by a proper mother who would absolutely die of heart failure if she saw this attrocity! Dogs did not sit at the table and they sure as heck do not put their paws on it!  Remember, dogs don’t wear shoes, and those paws had been out in the yard walking on who knows what.

The funny thing is, Mr. Wonderful is a very neat and clean man.  He’s all about sanitary when it comes to the kitchen, having worked in a restaurant setting for a very long time.

Except when it comes to Abby.

When it comes to Abby, he’s a big softie and a complete germ disregarder.  Cleanliness doesn’t really seem to matter, as one can see every time he lets Abby licks his nose for 5 minute intervals.  She actually licks the inside of his nostrils and he doesn’t flinch.  Not even one little bit. You think I’m kidding.  

I wish I was.

The man loves his dog.  In fact, it was a stipulation when we dated.  If Abby liked me – I was in. Luckily she liked me, I’d hate to think what would have happened if she didn’t…

Abby is the dog version of Garfield.  You can generally find her sleeping. 

In a 24-hour day, Abby sleeps at least 23 hours of it.  

When Mr. Wonderful and I met, he would literally carry her from a sleeping position, down 2 flights of stairs, across the parking lot and to a grassy field at his apartment complex for her to use the “bathroom”. 

At 3 a.m.

 Needless to say, Abby was spoiled and hadn’t been made to mind one single thing.  Guess what? Abby has to be carried or prodded outside to this day at 3 a.m. to potty.  You know what my response is when asked “why don’t you ever wake up?”  My opinion is -“Hey, I trained my dog and now I’m sleeping!” Is that horrible of me? I don’t think so…

Abby is really a sweetie of a dog.  Spoiled though she may be, she loves to be on a lap, anyone’s lap.  And the words “give me a kiss” will result in her licking your face raw, or your nose to be precise.  She just likes to live in her own “I am the princess” world most of the time, and that involves sleeping.

Alot.

Then there’s Max.  Wonderful merry Max.

 

Max is officially our grand-dog.  Tori got Max for her birthday a few years ago.  Max is a white fluff ball who loves to frolic and pester.  He bounces, he pounces, he leaps in circles, and he’s full of life.  Max plays hard and then crashes hard.  Max is a stinker.  He has brought back memories of having a toddler again.  Remember the terrible two’s?  You feel the need to put everything breakable above his reach and cover the light sockets and also remove all hazardous materials from floor level.  He’s devilishly sneaky.  Max can shred a Kleenex into confetti right under your feet without you even noticing.  

Look at him though, he’s so stinkin cute and innocent looking. 

Guess what though? Like all grandchildren, Max’s shortcomngs make me laugh most of the time.  He looks at life as an adventure.  From the refrigerator rattling, to a bathroom door closing upstairs, Max thinks there is something happening all the time that involves him personally and has to go check it out.  And Max drives Sam and Abby insane.  As older, wiser, lazier dogs, they just want to be left alone.  Max doesn’t  know what “leave me alone” means.

  Max thinks everyone loves to be around him and to play with him non-stop.  And he always has the same look on his face.  Always!  Like “heyyyy, what’s happening?”  No matter if he’s being good, or naughty or anywhere in between. 

Because they’re the “naughty dogs”, Max and Abby get locked up every nite together in the laundry room area.  We figured he would drive her nuts, but miraculously, we began to notice something.  Max was bringing Abby back to life.  You can’t stay around someone who’s young at heart for long without being pulled into their playfullness.  It wasn’t long before Abby began chasing Max and frollicing with him.  Because she gave him one second of attention, Abby is now destined to be followed endlessly by him and forever be pestered.  But it’s cute to watch.

I have no idea what people do without dogs in their life.  I can’t imagine mine without a dog.  At times I’ve wondered what it would be like to have a clean, glass storm-door without those little nose prints at the bottom. I’ve wondered when I’ve had “clean-up” duty in the backyard.  I’ve wondered on stormy nites when they knock the gate down barking and wake us up.  

But then I’d miss times like this:

And this:

 And what about this?

Well ok, maybe I could live without that one!

But, how could I ever live without them? 

We love our dogs.

**Added Note:  Mr. Wonderful is not happy about me revealing the nose licking thing…do you have private secrets about spoiling your dogs? If so, please leave a comment!