Year of the Dog

It's that time of year again. Our little Scrat Monster is having another birthday today.

As best we can tell, he is 4 years old today. Which means he was born in the Year of the Dog (how's THAT for appropriate?).

Let's see what that should tell us about him.

Those born in the Year of the Dog possess the best traits of nature. They have a deep sense of loyalty, are honest, and inspire other people's confidence because they know how to keep secrets. But Dog People are somewhat selfish, terribly stubborn, and eccentric. They can be cold emotionally and sometimes distant at parties. They can find fault with many things and are noted for their sharp tongues. Dog people make good leaders. They are compatible with those born in the Years of the Horse, Tiger, and Rabbit.

Loyalty:
Scrat is very much Slugbo's dog. He's his Little Dude, his Bundle of Energy, his Snuggle Buddy. Then 'Mom' gets done with whatever I'm doing and settles into the living room for the night and he's on my lap in a heartbeat. So much for Loyal to Dad. But I'm the one who snapped the leash on him the first day. I'm the one that wouldn't take him to the shelter after we couldn't find his owner and gave him the chance to show Slugbo just how great of a dog he could be for him. So maybe his loyalty is just fine. ;-)

Selfish, Stubborn, Eccentric:
Give the boy a tennis ball and good luck getting it away from him. He won't share them with the other dogs. If he's on a lap, he growls at any of the other fur babies that try to lay down close by (we curb that tendency as much as possible which is why I usually have three grumbling dogs in my lap at the same time). He knows how to get out of his crate, but doesn't do it when I am home, only when Slug is left to take care of the dogs in the morning.

Those are the primary ones that cover his personality.

We should include the following for him.

Adventurous:
He will follow you anywhere. On the "ruff", in the snow, onto an almost ice covered lake. Into the water. He rides on the Jet skis (yes he has doggles), and he will ride in my off road kart with me. He goes in the basket on the bike. He'll ride on the dashboard of the RV.

Sweet:
When he was so sick at the end of last year, early this year, he wanted nothing more than to just sleep curled up on someone.

It was all the sleeping that got us so worried. The deal with the thyroid has appeared to age him some. He's is going more white on his ears and he has white tufts coming in at weird places. But we will take it. The meds are helping. He has his energy back, but he is still the best snuggle bug we have.

We love you Scrat Monster. Here's to many more birthdays with us baby dog.

Belated Birthday Baby Boy

I'm a bad doggy blogger mom.

Scrat the Brat turned 3 on Wednesday.

It is the day we got him. It is his age as best we can tell.

It is been an eventful two years with this little monster.

Look at that face.

How 12 pounds of compact energy can get into so MUCH trouble is a mystery to me?

He likes to:

• eat rocks
• turn left down the hall instead of right to his room when he is told BED
• eat rocks
  
• chase the cats - though he has stopped trapping them under furniture
• eat rocks
• not give up the tennis ball from the last throw without making the neighbors think we are skinning him alive
• eat rocks - see a pattern here? There is a reason he got a birthday card from the pet insurance company

He redeems himself by:

• loving to curl up behind me in my office chair
• making hubby smile many times a day
• giving his all to whatever you have planned that day whether its sleeping, chasing a ball, hanging out in the office or just wandering around the yard
• learning that playing with teeth (i.e. him biting without thinking) is not acceptable
• no longer attempting to take a chunk out of my girlfriends ankles when they come over
• making certain that every possible IOTA of food is gone from all the dog bowls before he is 'done' with his dinner
• by thinking that a new lap is the perfect place to curl up - you sit down, you get a dog in your lap
• by showing our friends how much for the better he has changed in the past year from the snarling territorial little monster he truly was into a snuggle bug
• never giving up. He KNOWS That ball is out there somewhere okay maybe UP there and has simply not fallen yet. If he could climb that tree he would.
  
• loving my husband completely

You have come a long way Scrat baby. 'Dad' and I cannot believe we have been lucky enough to have had you in our lives these past two years.

Love, 'Mom'

Double Digit Doggy

Ten years ago today an event occurred that would affect the rest of my life. Little did I know exactly what the Fates had in store for me.

I was married to my first husband at the time and he wanted another dog and really wanted it to be a Boston Terrier.

December 23, 1998 I get a call at work from my husband saying I need to come down to the Humane Society and see this little guy they have. He's 8 pounds and four months old of half Boston and half Traveling Salesman. So I met Bob there and there was this little yappy, crooked teethed, crooked nosed, bundle of fur in with this little female Fox Terrier.

Bob, of course decided he actually wanted the FT, but it thankfully had a hold on it already. I promptly fell in love with the little brown guy that the FT was just mean to. Really truly while we were there she wouldn't let him near the front of the kennel or the water dish. I was bringing him home or else. (Turns out the little b* had bit him and punctured his lower jaw, but I got that fixed)

We started making arrangements with our landlord to bring the little guy home. The words 'Crate Training' are all powerful for renters that want a four month old puppy. We got permission and I left work early on Christmas Eve to go pick him up, since Bob was picking his parents up from the airport (I think - it's been a while).

I went to pay the fee and they said no he's FREE. So I asked why. He had been adopted out once to a couple with a two year old little girl. Apparently they were left together unsupervised and Cliff bit her. Rather than use this as an opportunity to be a better parent, they dumped him back at the HS. I got him because I didn't have kids. He spent the rest of that day curled up on my lap.

Yeah he's been my dog since day 1.

We napped together, went through dog training together, he was with me when my marriage fell apart and he helped my ex's dad deal with cancer. When he was allowed in the bed he always curled up with me.

Cliff went on to eat one of each of my pairs of dress shoes. He learned that eating Mommy's cross stitch project is a really good way to get in a LOT of trouble. He also learned that chasing after deer in Annadel is an excellent way to send Mom into a panic attack.

He went through obedience training with flying colors.

Cliff has long since redeemed himself for biting the little girl. He is excellent with children. He is a Pet Assisted Therapy dog now. We can take him anywhere and know he will behave.

My husband Ken has never been much of a dog person, even with Cliff, since Cliff doesn't play much. But he had to take Cliff on a camping trip with another friend and their dog and I got the best compliment ever when they got home. Before that trip, seeing the friend's dog, he'd never appreciated just what a well behaved dog Cliff is.

He's my little bed bug. He has bad knees, but a good weight so they don't bother him. He loves blankets and squeaky toys. He hates the water. His middle name is Tiberius. His first name is actually Clifton, even if he named after the bar fly on Cheers (half Boston, and we already had a Norman dog, get it?)

He is the best dog I could have ever asked for and I don't know what I'll do when it is his time to go.

Hopefully that's not something I'll have to deal with for many years to come.

Happy 10th Birthday baby dog. I love you so much.

Happy Birthday Nephew Mine

I still don't have pictures, for which I can still blame your mother. :-)

Happy 22nd Birthday Michael.

I hope you are well.

Love,
Aunt Jenni

Happy Birthday Little Dude

It's hard to believe that a year ago today a source of extreme joy came into our life.

Last year March 18th was on a Sunday. It was the day after the funeral for our dear neighbor and hubby and I were on our way to a client to do some server work while no one was in the office.

He and I were headed to the car when I see this little blob of brown fur sitting at the top of the driveway.

I immediately go into doggy alert. Hubby hadn't come through the gate behind me yet and waited to let me do my thing.

I got the little shivering terrified furball kind of trapped between our Buick and the pile of construction stuff at the side of the driveway while DH went and got a leash. I'm down on all fours at this point (this guy is LITTLE and I don't want to scare him) and he slowly hands me the leash.

The minute it's on this little guy, he's an entirely different dog. Happy, bouncing around, like someone flipped a switch letting him know everything is okay and he's with people that won't hurt him.

Well we still have to get to the clients so in the house and into the crate we have for Oscar he goes and off we go.

Later I take a picture and post flyers around the neighborhood and take him for a walk to see if he'll take me to his 'real' home. Little did I know, he'd already found it.

The next week is a week of craigslist ads and pressdemo ads and petco flyers and filling out found dog reports at the local shelters and putting the word out that we have a little guy that might need a new home. We already have two dogs after all. I got heartbreaking phone calls from people looking for their own dog or puppy.

It's also a week of IM conversations with DH like the following:

DH: Guess what?
Me: What?
DH: He plays fetch.
Me: Oh boy.

Couple of days later

DH: He likes the water.
Me: Excuse me?
DH: He likes the water.
Me: How do you know he likes the water?
DH: I threw the ball in the pond
Me: Oh boy.

The next weekend still no real bites on the search for his home and I tell hubby I cannot take him to the shelter. Hubby agrees that we can keep him till we decide if we are keeping him or we find him a new home. Again, little did we know.

He went through three names those first two weeks:

• Ranger ("I want to be an airborne ranger")
  
• Rocket (the little bugger just flies after tennis balls)
  
• landing finally on Scrat (him with a tennis ball is Scrat from Ice Age with an acorn - he even makes the same noises) when we decided to keep him for good.

He is my husband's dog, and hubby hasn't ever been a dog person. Till now. Scrat is his joy and his playmate and his snuggle dude.

They love to play. Scrat loves tennis balls and playing throw more than fetch and he'll ride on the jetskis with the wind in his face.

He has two speeds 0 and 60 and alternates between the two faster then a pretty little Lamborghini.

He's excited about everything and anything you want to try to do with him. He'll sit and wait or sleep while waiting for the next great thing to happen.

He cannot help but bring a smile to your face with his expression of pure joy.

Even if he still has the occasional accident in the house (thankfully NOT on the carpet anymore), he's learning and he's come a long way.

He goes by many monikers:

• Scrat the Gnat - he has the attention span of one after all
  
• Scrat Monster
• Scrat the Brat
• Little Brown Dog
• Little Dude
  

We don't know when his actual birthday is, so the day he came into our life is the day he gets. He's two today (our best guess).

While Cliff the Mutt is and always will be 'My Boy' and Oscar the Dog is my satellite, Scrat the Brat is our joy.

I don't know what fates led him to our driveway, but I'm very glad they did.

Happy Birthday Little Dude.

You'll live to see more if you stop going on walkabout at 7:30 in the morning when Mom's already running late. ::wink::