So We Got A Dog....

After about 8 years of begging, I finally gave in and we got a dog.

Last year was a really hard year for us. Both our old cats, "Boo" and "Nosey", died [one was 9 and one was 13]. They were neurotic [and Nosey was known as "The Dark Lord" for good reason] but very much loved... it was really sad. We got some fish. Three fish - each of the older kids had a fish. My son's fish, "Michael", died almost immediately. We went and got him a snail ["Snaily the Supersnail"]. The other two fish ["Erin" and "Little Bear"] lived for a few months and then both died pretty quickly together. It was pretty depressing.

But Snaily lived on. Snaily was really cool - he was very active and exciting for a snail. Then, after about 6 months he took to long periods of hibernation where we would be *sure* he was finally dead and then he'd pop out "SURPRISE!" and start eating slime again and showing off. He became known as "Snaily the undead Supersnail" because of his amazing ability to appear dead and then resurrect. So, Snaily lived for almost a whole year and was quite entertaining in his day. Then, finally, in March he died. [We left him in the tank for two weeks just to make sure... ]

So, this left us with an absolute dearth of pets. The children decided that it was imperative to finally get that dog they'd been begging for. They formed a united front [which is pretty impressive - imagine Iran, Guatemala, and Switzerland forming a united front!]. They all agreed that the ONLY thing they would ask for for their birthdays this year was a dog - all of them would ask for a dog, and only a dog.

It must have been the postpartum insanity, but I finally agreed and started to think it was a good idea to have a dog. In fact, I started researching dogs on the internet obsessively and questioning my sister and sister-in-law [both impressive dog experts] incessantly. We started praying for God to send us the right dog and to help us be good dog owners. [And God *listens* to my kids!! In fact, He spoils them right rotten!]

After a few weeks, we finally decided to go look at some dogs at the Humane Society. We went in with a stack of printed pages with mugshots and stats on about 8 dogs we found from Petfinder.com and we started meeting them. The lady at the Humane Society was insanely patient with us. The first dog we looked at was a black german shepherd girl, about 18 months old, that belonged to a soldier who was deployed to Iraq. We REALLY wanted to take that dog - to kind of take care of the soldier's dog and give her a good home while he was off at war. Plus we really love german shepherds. But, well... we knew pretty quick she wasn't the one - she's was really hyper and totally disinterested in the kids. And she was so strong that I had trouble just holding her leash. Not a good mix.

So, the next dog we saw was a "chocolate lab mix" [MUTT!] who was 10 months old. She was energetic and excited, but not spastic. She was immediately interested in the kids and was very good with them - wasn't upset by me rubbing her tummy, putting my hands in her mouth, touching her ears, or any other annoying thing I could think of that a 2 year old might try and get bitten for. She responded to "sit" even in the excited madness of the shelter. She was charming. She was THE ONE. We knew within about 2 minutes.

The funny thing is, we almost didn't look at her at all. She's a dark colored dog and didn't photograph well at all - in fact, when I showed my husband her print out, he said "I don't want to look at that dog, its butt ugly!". Well, in person she's really cute and has a great personality. Thank goodness for the ugly photographs or someone else might have found her first and it would have been our loss!

We looked at 5 more dogs after her, but we kept her out. We had [for some truly insane reason] decided we were going to adopt TWO dogs that day [because I need TWO dogs in the house with the 5 kids...right? LOL!]. She was really great with the other dogs, but none of them seemed a good fit. So, we decided to take just her. Then they tell us she's not spayed yet, and we can't have her till Tuesday .... boy, tell that to 4 excited children who have fallen madly in love with the dog that we thought we were taking home!

But, to make a long story short, we picked her up Wednesday after her surgery and she has been an absolute blessing to our home. She's perfect with the kids, perfect with the potty [not one mistake - what a girl!]. She loves her crate, and other than some chewing issues that we are working on, she couldn't be more perfect.

And she fit right in. She loves butter and she's crazy - this makes her a perfect fit for our family! LOL!

OK, so I found out she loves butter because it turns out she had kennel cough. After an expensive vet visit [OUCH my checking account!], I came home with antibiotics to give her. Big old capsules of antibiotics. How do you get a 50 lb dog to take a pill that it doesn't wanna take? So, first I tried putting it inside a treat. She fell for that the first time, but the second time she figured it out and spit the whole mess out on the floor and then very methodically picked the treat parts out and left the antibiotic parts.... So, next I tried butter. I found out that this dog will eat ANYTHING if I put a little butter on it. And we've had no problems getting her to take her meds ever since. :)

This makes her a perfect fit for our family. We love Paula Deen because that woman knows how to cook with butter! In fact, my son had the nickname "Butter Baby" as an infant, and he has tried his best to live up to it. No nasty hydro-spliced margarine food products here... we believe in the "real thing"!

And the crazy part ... well, you have to be crazy to live in the Monkey House. That's just all there is to it.

The dog found a grape on the floor today [man! Nobody told me about the cool way dogs clean up the floor under the table after the kids eat! Do you KNOW how much time she's saving me in sweeping?! LOL!]. She went nuts! She took the grape in her mouth, ran to the living room, tossed the grape in the air, danced around it, laid on her back and kicked the air and did the funkiest little shimmy dance you've ever seen - then picked the grape up and tossed it again and did the same thing again. It was the funniest thing the kids and I had ever seen. This went on for about 5 minutes and then she ate the grape. [I guess she decided there had been enough Dance of the Almighty Grape and it was time to eat it!]. So, the kids went and got her another grape and the whole thing started again. We must have gotten 30 minutes of amusement out of that today, and she didn't even get sick from eating all those grapes! [Who knew?!!!]

So, this crazy, lovable, charming lab mutt is exactly what we needed here in the Monkey House. Thank God for sending us the Incredible Crazy Butter Loving Grape Dancing Dog! [Who shall henceforth be known as "Wonder Dog"!]