Hey Alvin and Theo, get out!

This is the story of the chipmunks.  It all started with one chipmunk who seemed harmless and pretty minimal on the destruction.  Melvin and Jake had fun chasing her and she lived under some small brick steps leading to the garage.  Whatever.

Well.. turns out girlfriend is pretty slutty and babies are popping up all over the flipping yard and every night there is some sort of frat party (to see who can be the next baby-daddy) so when we come out each morning there are shells and food trails and HOLES and TUNNELS.

I will not tell you what I googled on the subject but it was not ‘gift ideas for an expectant chipmunk’.  Also, the whole thing has the dogs going nuts, and not in a good way for anyone.  Melvin can’t focus on anything when he’s out back due to their scent being everywhere. Jake thinks some food fairy shows every night to leave him shells to eat. Also, since they seem to be making good use of the whole yard and patio, Jake feels the need to mark all areas, including the brick.  If we see one of the squatter family members on a walk, well the walk has then ended cause Jake starts foaming and flipping and honking and I HATE CHIPMUNKS.  There, I said it.

They are adorable for 13 seconds which is apparently how long the gestation period lasts.  I want them gone. GONE! Please make them go away.  For the love of all things good and holy, I’m just not a chipmunk person.

This is how he stalks them from inside. IMG_0339

“Are chipmunks delicious?”IMG_0388

Jake turns 7!

This weekend, Jake turns seven!  He came to us when he had just turned five so he has spent almost 14 of his dog years with us!  Way back when he turned five, on that very day two years ago, his family gave him up for adoption.  I have to doubt they knew it was his birthday.  Either way, I think it was the best gift they could ever have given him.  If they didn’t have time for the Jake back then, they would not have time for the Jake of today.

Yes, some of his issues can complicate a day.  Yes, he’s noisy, and stinky and such a dude in so many dude-dog ways.   But he’s my beautiful, complicated handful of a stinky dude-dog!  Not one hour in life goes by that he does not make me laugh.  He teaches me that limitations are only what you make of them.   No matter the number of birthdays we’ve spent together, my love for him stretches back and forward infinitely.

Happy Birthday to my little chicken nugget, to my mini-monkey, my wonky-legged-googly-eyed-spaz!  You are spectacular at seven!  You are loved to all the way to the non-planet Pluto and back and back around again and again and again!

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Jackpot!

I don’t know if I believe in chance or fate or signs.  I don’t know if things happen for a reason.  I mostly believe things happen and we have to deal with them and that how we deal matters.  I believe that what we put out into the universe, will in some way come back to us.  That doesn’t mean that if you only throw out kindness that bad times won’t come your way.  Bad times, good times, neutral-boring times, they will all come.  But the goodness, it will come back too, hopefully when you least expect it but need it most.

We got a call on Friday that one of our vets (we have many) was able to get us TWO bottles of Apoquel.  Not one, TWO.  And not little bottles, we are talking the bulk bottles that vets use to dispense out smaller quantities.  That means, and let me tell you I am still squealing with so much joy, that BOTH Melvin and Jake are now on it!  I can already see a difference!  Jake’s redness is fading.  Melvin has a calmness that comes from not having to gnaw on his paws all day.  I am filled with so much gratitude and even if this good fortune came our way because of something we put out there, we will still pay it forward.  Above all, when good things happen for us, we want others to feel joy too!

Apoquel means that Melvin might be able to get off the prednisone.  Might, we aren’t sure yet.  But if he can get off it some or all together, his life could be longer.  I mean I’m setting some pretty high hopes but when you think about our goals of his life being measured in joy, not time, Apoquel is something that could give both joy and time.  And that option has not been a factor with him, ever.  Now, the realist in me always kicks in,  I know that Apoquel might not be enough for Melvin, prednisone might still be needed.  But a door is open and we are going to walk through and see.  And in the meantime, double-ear-infection-and-on-an-antibiotic-for-a-skin-infection Jake will for sure feel better.  He’s been on this before, we know it works for him!

Apoquel combined with the fact that the first frost WILL come… hot damn we are happy!!!!!! Can’t you tell how excited they are!!!IMG_0350

 

 

Chin up, Chicken.

Jake has this new thing where he wants to prop his chin up.  I think he has realized he can breathe better if his face is not smashed into the couch, bed, rug.  Go figure Jake!  So he will drag items to where he wants to be and use the object to hold his head up when he is lying down.  He’s also making much better use of the couch.  Maybe it’s his way of being optimistic and reminding people to keep their chins up.

The old way:IMG_9748 IMG_9495 5 6 14e photo[11]

 

The new way:IMG_0042 IMG_0276 IMG_0218 IMG_0149 IMG_0145

 

Chin up folks!

 

Zzzzzzzzzz.

Sleep situation update:  Could not be going better!  After rearranging their bed positions (not sure what made me think this could work), they both gravitate to their own beds and are staying there all night.  This is great for Jake who hunkers down and has been accident free (and that part is great for me!). I think he appreciates the view of Melvin’s butt as he is drifting into dreamland.  It’s pretty odd that Melvin is staying in his bed all night, I’m thinking he is so tired on the Melatonin that he can’t even garner energy to get up to join on the big bed (and also if he positions himself just right, he can avoid Jake’s deep gazes into his soul).

Sleep is good for everyone so we’ll take it!

Happy Thursday!!!!

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Dear week, please end.

This week has it out for us, and to that I cry… ‘Uncle’!  Jake’s skin is blood-red, his fall allergies are far worse this year than last year and he is beyond miserable. We have prescriptions antihistamines that are doing NOTHING (well that is not entirely true, they are making Jake throw up). We have two vets searching the universe for enough Apoquel to get us through to the first frost.  This area is completely out of it and despite Jake being on before the shortage, we were unable to get him on the list to continue getting it.  Add to the injury of his allergies is the insult of a double ear infection.  He shakes his head so hard that I worry his eyes will pop out.  We went to the vet this morning – he was literally unable to stop shaking his head.  They infused medicine into both ears, never had this before, and apparently it is thick and will stay in and treat him from inside his ears for two weeks.  Now if only his skin was not on fire.

It is almost certain that Melvin has Cushing’s.  He is on prednisone (the cause) and has every single symptom.  We can’t get him off the pred until after the first frost and that will take time to taper him until he can be off for two weeks to be tested.  In the meantime we are trying a natural approach to treatment, Melatonin (what’s four more pills in the pill-box?!).  The Melatonin has shown really great treatment results in some dogs and it’s something we can use while he is still on the prednisone.  The side effect, he’s exhausted.  He sleeps a lot now, even more than before!

Here is Jake post appointment.  He keeps toppling over due to the heaviness in his ears.  Melvin is too tired to care.IMG_0293

 

Emotional pooper.

Hi, my name is Jake and I’m an emotional pooper.  IMG_0242

Some eat when things get stressful.  Some smoke, drink, shop, cry, whatever.  Jake poops. At the vet, meatballs for everyone!  When I leave the house with Melvin only, hey mudroom, meatballs for you! In the buggy on walks when he see’s prey but realizes he’s strapped in, this buggy needs some meatballs!

This morning, we had a mobile pet spa come and give both boys baths. They take them out to the van one at a time.  Melvin went first.  Jake was so wounded to see Melvin taken away that he started howling.  As he howled… meatballs started shooting out.  I mean he must feel things pretty deeply for his bowels to be reached.

Happy weekend!!!!

 

Hey, don’t leave me.

Something Jake loves, his new nighttime freedom. Something Jake hates, being left in a room or upstairs/downstairs alone.  He will check every so often to make sure he has not been abandoned.  This was never an issue when he slept in the condo, I could leave the room and he was fine, there was nothing he could really do so he’d just sleep. With the new bed set up and since he has googly eyes, he can’t always see at night if I am in the bed or not so he has to get up and walk over and make sure. Keeping his cloak blanket on is a skill he has worked really hard on perfecting.

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Allergies, seizures, Cushing’s, oh my.

Melvin continues to challenge the medical community.  His allergies are flaring up a bit right now and to be honest, I’m not even sure why.  My guess is he has developed an allergy to something he was fine with just a few months ago.  Why universe, why?

Itchy McItcherson and his sidekick, wonky-legged-diaper boy.  IMG_0073

Also, his back arthritis is taking him some getting used to. He’s on pain medication, laser therapy, and he takes joint supplements but the fact remains he can’t always pull jumps off.  This is the phase in his life when he doesn’t realize his body has limitations so he attempts things and it doesn’t work out and he ends up wiping out.  Not fun for him to go through, terrible to watch.  I help him up and hope he remembers next time.  In the same way a puppy learns what he can and can’t do, and older dog realizes that laying on the rug is sometimes easier than hoping up on the bed.  And that my dear readers, is the exact moment you join them on the floor.

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His liver values continue to stink.  We aren’t talking a hundred or two hundred over, we are in the thousands off count (we like to overachieve!).  A popular theory is that he may have Cushing’s.  The problem is, it’s incredibly hard to test him for it and perhaps even more difficult to treat him.  My guy has been on prednisone his whole life.  Long before I got him and everyday since he came to me at age three (he is now nine).  He has been at the internist or at the normal vet on days when we have withheld morning food/pills and by noon, he is gnawing his body.  The prednisone was a life decsion.  It was part of the master plan: we choose joy over time.  If there was something that could take the place of the pred, we would make that move in a heartbeat.  But as of yet, nothing works like it.  And seeing him chew his body to relive the intense itching…no. No.

Sometimes, post seizure or after a bad liver update, we don’t get the answers we’d like.  We often get no answers at all. Sometimes we all just agree to watch him, look into alternatives, pray for a change in direction. I don’t love that part, it used to weigh on me a lot more than it does now.  Now I just head home with Melvin and give him ice cream or something else he shouldn’t have but that makes him so happy that it’s worth it.

Ice cream coma. IMG_0057

While I am not happy about the things that haunt him, I refuse to be sad. He doesn’t know he’s a hot mess and I find so much humor in that.  He’s loving, and exuberant and constantly hungry.  He continues to drool water farther than any dog I have ever seen.  He’s Melvin, and this is part of what I got when I rescued him. It’s a package deal.

Always seek the joy.

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Sleep training.

Jake has always slept in a crate condo at night.  There are a few reasons for this.  At first it was to give some distance between the bed and his insanely loud snoring him.  More recently it has been because as his legs fail, his ability to ‘hold it’ is slipping away so I was trying to keep it all contained, especially since I don’t like him to have to wear a diaper at night.  His junk needs air!

The problem is… he is not very good at alerting me if he goes at night.  Let me rephrase that, he just moves over and goes back to sleep.  The only indication I’d have that something has happened is a break in the noise.  Silence is his alert.  If I get up in the middle of the night, I’ll check to see if there are any issues.  But that is not the best system, I can’t have  the little guy laying near grossness.

So… I have decided to try to train him to sleep on the dog bed sans a crate.  And I do mean stay on the beds.   I have pads between the cover and mattress of both his and Melvin’s bed.  If I can train Jake to stay on one of those two beds, I think we can continue to leave the diaper off (seriously people, everyone’s junk needs air!) and if he has an accident in the night, he can just move over to Melvin’s bed.  Melvin starts in his bed but always moves to the floor or my bed during the night so that vacancy is almost guaranteed.

We started this weekend.  I moved the condo to the loft, washed everyone’s bedding and used the command they both know ‘your bed’.   IMG_0155

That went well except I could tell that 1. Melvin noticed the lack of barrier in a negative way (What the F is this?) and Jake noticed it in a positive way (for him at least) (sweet freedom!) as he got into bed and then stepped back out of bed leaving one foot on base to be sure to meet the command criteria of ‘your bed’.IMG_0153

Jake tried to get up a few times but for the most part he went to sleep and stayed there all night (accident free I might add).  Melvin stayed in the new set-up all of 14 seconds.  He decided to sleep far away from a non-contained Jake.  IMG_0150

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Night two has me thinking that Melvin may move out. IMG_0179

Jake’s face.

Jake doesn’t smile.  In fact, if you went by photos alone, you’d think he was a crabby dude with a rough, unhappy life.  Even when he’s hot, his mouth barely opens to pant. I have no idea how he gets food into his mouth, I think he uses a sucking/suction approach.

Take the following photos, they were all relatively happy moments in Jake’s life.  Can’t you tell?IMG_9878 IMG_9734 IMG_9983 IMG_9958

But then it happened.  And luckily, it was caught on camera!

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You. Are. Welcome!

Jake versus the bubble wrap.

I got this awesome new photo and it came wrapped in a ton of bubble wrap.

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While the bubble wrap was hanging out by the door, awaiting transport to recycling, Jake’s ‘there-is-a-soft-surface-for-you-to-lay-upon’ alert system kicked in.  The best part about this video is at the beginning when he timbers in slow-motion into the pile.

 

I work from home now.

So the trial of working from home transitioned to working from home full-time.  I won’t lie, it’s AWESOME!  I’m still finding the balance. I miss seeing my work friends everyday and I miss wearing all my cute clothes but dressing up to stay home seems borderline Kardashian so…  and we need to get on a different dog walking schedule than EVERYONE else in the neighborhood (my dogs don’t love their own kind — Melvin is more tolerant, Jake foams at the mouth).

The biggest plus to me working from home, the dogs have a new-found calmness. It’s hard to explain.  They are just more relaxed, Melvin has even stopped barking at every fake noise. Also, they have both loosened their velcro grip on me.  They have ascertained that there is no exit out of the office (I’m not a climb-out-of-the-window kind of girl).  One way in, one way out.  So they allow a little space every now and then.  Sometimes, not always, but every once in a while, I even get to go the bathroom alone. Who knew how delightful privacy could be!

Here they are: hardly working. IMG_0048

So I’m home more now.  The boys are doing great.  Seems like a good time to try new things!

  • I want to get the boys to the beach/beach house.  This requires a 7-hour road trip with two dogs. Totally doable.  I think.
  • Take the boys for more separate walks.  Don’t get me wrong, our together walks are awesome but I want to take some time out for each dog since they have different walking needs.  I miss my walks with Melvin and I want Jake to feel like he is not being rushed.  It will also be good practice for them to get used to being left at home   without the other for a little while.
  • Get Jake’s wheels.  He doesn’t need them all the time but it will be good to get him used to them slowly for a time when he does.
  • Volunteering.  Animals, humans, yes please.
  • Fostering.  There will never be a better time than right now when I can be home more often and have time to work on the foster and on getting the boys used to four-legged (or tripod!) visitors.  I should set the expectation here: I fully expect to foster-fail (in the good way).
  • That’s it, geeze I do still have to work also!

What are some of your upcoming goals?

 

 

 

An update, from Melvin.

Hey what’s up? Sorry I shouted that but my little brother is the loudest creature ever put on earth and I can barely hear my life occurring when he is within 45 feet of me. He snorts, he grunts, he snores, he honks, he does some weird gargle with his spit and sometimes he makes a hairball noise.  He does this all day and all night.  I think there are maybe 21 seconds a day where his body is so tired of making a noise that it holds his own breath for a moment of peace.

He’s fine. Whatever. Sure, there are some other things beyond his noises that I don’t love. I am not allowed to pee or poop in the house and quite frankly that is ok with me. But Jake? Oh do whatever you want.  You’re too tired to go out(?), just pee here on MY BED (said me never but he still does it).  He pees and she gets him robot skirts. Also, hear me now world, my brother Jake is the laziest creature on the planet.  He somehow has convinced her to carry him up and down the steps.  How embarrassing, get a gym membership dude.  Lazy is not adorable.

I have also decided there are zero benefits to being small (except that you get to be extra noisy, pee wherever your heart desires and you get carried).  I can see out the window.  Dude cannot.  So I bark, at nothing, and he gets all riled up and I just go lay down but he doesn’t know the fake thing isn’t still out their so he tries to hop up and see it but he can’t.  I laugh so hard, in a silent way.  I can jump up on he couch, on my throne the purple chair, on the bed.  Little dude just stares up at us.  HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA.  And then of course he makes some sad face that gives her the emotions and she lifts Lazy up to be with us. Ugh.

There are some things are ok about him.  He seems to make her happy (although not as happy as I make her but anywho).  He really seems to like how I smell, and so do I, so I like that he gets that. I mean I used to think it was odd that he smells every inch of me but he’s addicted to the Melvin-man, it happens to the best of them. He and I share a dislike of other dogs.  When I was the only dog, I had to do all the work on chasing approaching dogs away.  Now, little dude does it, from a buggy even!  And he’s really good at it.  I bet he could spark fear in a dinosaur. While I don’t love his giant pink car seat that takes up a billion inches of my space, I do like that we can pretend we are rich kids in a limo and She is our driver.

Ok fine, I love that he has taken to kissing me constantly.  I mean for months he’d just land on my precious body from out of nowhere so him kissing me is definitely an improvement over that. And well, maybe, I love him as much as he loves me. I don’t even recall our life before him, that seems weird.  Has he always been here?  Sometimes, NOT ALWAYS, we will hold hands through the walls of his condo at night.  Yeah, he’s my bro-man.

Oh, I’m also supposed to let you know I’m doing ok.  I had a seizure last week and it took me a few days to get back to my awesome self.  I feel bad I made her worry but one minute I was fine and the next minute I was confused and didn’t really have control of my body.  But then it was fine.  She said, ‘one day at a time, bud’.  Gah, I love her so much. I’m not 100% but we go back to the vet today and I get laser therapy today too!  Big day, big day!

Happy Monday!  Melvin-man, over and out.

Here is me not feeling great. I still look so handsome. IMG_0043

Here is little-dude letting me have the momma all to myself. IMG_0042

It’s hard to tell, but this is us ‘holding hands’.  IMG_9951

 

Stage Mom.

The moment I entered Jake into the cutest dog contest, I became a stage mom.  I mean there were days I thought about putting make-up on Jake before we left the house.

The winners were announced this past Saturday.  It was a HOT day for a Wagfest and Jake was over the whole thing before we even arrived.  We were both decked out in Sirius Republic gear – he had on his brown Sugar Skulls collar, he borrowed Melvin’s Sugar Skull bow tie.  He had his skull and crossbones diaper on and I wore my ‘Must Love Dogs’ t-shirt!  Jake also had two Kool collars on and he was still overheating within five minutes.

Where are you taking me?photo 2

I’m hot, take me home. photo 1

It came time to announce the winners.  They started with 2nd runner-up, that dog was announced and it was not Jake and the words that came out of my mouth were “WHEW!”.  Who says that?  I’ll tell you who, a stage mom.

They then announced the 1st runner-up and IT WAS JAKE!  There was loud applause and cheers (we had a lot of fans there) and we got stopped for more photos than anyone else. Doy!

To be honest, my recollection of the whole day is a tad different from everyone else’s.  This is what was said: 1st runner-up, Jake from Ashburn!  This is what I heard: 1st runner-up, Jake from Ashburn.

We got a very generous prize package of gift cards that we will donate to dogs who are in need.  All in all it was super fun, we are very honored and look forward to seeing his photo in the magazine!

Thank you to all who supported us and voted!  And as for those who ask why Melvin wasn’t entered, Melvin is cute, sure, but Melvin’s true gift is his ability to love. When they have a contest for that, he will win!

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Today was lame.

I had every intention of sitting down and penning our update on the Northern Virginia Cutest  Dog contest.  I just had to get through an interview with a rescue group (for volunteering!!) and a few work things.  But Melvin had different ideas for how today would go.  I’m just going to tell you the Melvin part matter-of-factly because right now, we don’t have a ton of info:

  • He was confused this morning and panicked a few times.
  • He was unable to get up from the lying down position (on hardwood and on carpet) and that, too, made him panic.
  • He then had a significant increase in his normal tremor activity, his whole body was shaking.
  • Then he threw up. A lot.

I took him to the vet and they think he had (another) seizure episode.  They weren’t however ready to rule out minor stroke. He was all sorts of sore from the episode so they laser therapy’d him, took blood and pee and we are going to reassess tomorrow.  We feel like he’ll need a neuro follow-up but it was not felt it was critical to do that today. The last time he had a seizure, the next day he was unable to move and had to be put on Doxy (which helped).  He is back home now, resting and still a bit out of sorts.  He got some meds to calm him down and relieve any lingering nausea.  The hardest part was hearing the vet say over and over ‘sometimes, with OLD GUYS like him, blah blah blah’.  Uh, he is only one (plus 8).  He is not old. But that’s why it’s the hard part, he IS older.

So you know that no story of ours is complete without some sort of humor.  When I realized Melvin needed emergency care, I rushed him out to the car (through the garage).  Normally when I take Melvin to the vet (alone) I sneak him out the front door so that Jake does not explode with jealous rage.  Well today, Jake saw me load him up.  I came back in, put Jake in his room and apologized (HUGE WASTE OF TIME SINCE HE DOESN’T SPEAK HUMAN).  I could hear Jake honking and howling as I pulled out of the driveway.  Once at the vet and situated, I checked the Jake cam to see if he’d calmed down.  He had not.  Instead, he was shooting meatballs out of his butt faster than his body could possibly even be making them and he was HOWLING at the moon, arching his back and putting a every ounce of hissy into the fit as possible.  There is no way to record on the Jake cam but the vet staff saw it.  Meatballs and howling. Not exactly the behavior you would expect from one of the top three cutest dogs in NoVA!  Thank goodness the voting is over.

Here is my boy getting loved on by the vet.  We all had to wear protective glasses during the laser part.

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A thank you note, to Melvin’s first family.

I did this post a long time ago. I’m not sure why I never posted it but our good friends over at Oh Corbin just did a similar letter and I was reminded that this draft was still there.  ————————————————————————–

A while back, a woman posted a letter to her newly rescued dog’s previous owner. It went viral. I’m not sure when she was writing it that she knew that might happen.  The writer/rescuer received countless accolades and endless negative feedback. Many embraced her anger at the dog’s previous owner while others found it wildly judgmental. The thing is, the dog that was rescued had just died. Grief can be very powerful. With grief, often comes anger.  I found it sad that so much energy was focused on taking sides when we could have been celebrating the dog’s life. I think most of us rescue not to judge, but to save.  That non-judgement should extend to those who surrender, those who rescue, those who foster, those who foster fail (my favorite of all failures!) and to those who grieve.

(To ALL animal abusers,  you are on your own; you we will judge harshly.) 

I was torn when I got Melvin, I was happy he was mine but upset that his owners let his health deteriorate   It took me a little while to just feel grateful.  This letter might have been different if I’d written it when I first got him.  With time comes clarity. 

Dear previous family of then Riley,

Thank you for deciding to not be dog owners.  It’s because of you that my heart is full and my life is happy.

I was told of your frustration with owning Riley, that everyday you’d let him out in a fence-less yard before you left for work and that he’d wander off. You’d probably met some wonderfully well-behaved dogs in your life and you likely assumed Riley would hang out and wait for you while you were gone. Let’s be honest, Riley was not wonderfully well-behaved back then.  He was a need-a-fence kinda dog. (To this day his recall is only mediocre).  I’m just so thankful he was never hit by a car. They told me how frustrated you were that animal control had picked him up so many times and that on that last time, when they called you said: Keep him. Those two words, changed my life forever.  When he left you and came to me he had mange and giardia and massive yeast infections, not to mention his horrible allergies.  I want you to know that he’s so much better now, I don’t think you’d even recognize him!

I know that someone, somewhere did something to him with hangers. If that was you, I hope that heavy regret has set in.  I pray that whoever it was, if they ever consider getting another dog, that the universe puts a hanger in their path and they’re reminded that they are not dog people.  I want to assure you, his current life is free from punishment, what is required from him is only what he has to offer.  Some days it’s exuberance, some days it’s sleep.  Today it’s regurgitation.  It’s all good.

I didn’t like you at first.  But I know now that you and I were meant to unite.  I’m eternally grateful you didn’t allow the vet to put him down. I’m sure many would have seen ‘the worlds most allergic dog’ as a hopeless case. I’m thankful you said  – maybe someone else can help him.  I imagine defeat was hard to admit. Or maybe you celebrated his departure. Either way, that’s okay.

Here’s the truth:  I understand.  I know how much money his medications cost.  I know how expensive his food can be.  I know, that just when I think we’ve spent all we can on tests, more are needed.  He is not the dog for everyone and you didn’t know that when you went and picked him from the litter.  I will probably never be able to retire, but I was able to make that choice freely when I took him.  I really do understand.

His name is Melvin now. He is healthy.  He is happy.  He is my heart.  He knows true love. He personifies joy.  He and I were meant to be together which means you were meant to have him first. I rescue dogs, that means that they each have previous owners, a past that I have zero control over.

Thank you, for giving him up.  You did the right thing. If we were ever to meet you on the street, I know he would greet you with love and understanding and wiggles.

Sincerely,

Me.  His forever.

PS.  No, you cannot have him back.

Harmony.

I realized yesterday that is has been several months since the boys have had a scuffle.  And by scuffle I mean Jake lunging at Melvin’s face for no reason, or ‘falling off’ the couch onto him.  Melvin, thank sweet baby Jesus, has never reacted to Jake.  In the same way he knows he can walk away from rowdy kids or moments that make him uncomfortable, he knows also that he has the choice to ignore younger brother antics.

Upon realizing the peace that has set in, I did what any insane person would do.  I didn’t accept it and cheer, oh no, I tested it.  I dropped treats ‘accidentally’ one by one on the floor in front of them. They took turns eating them.  I brought Jake up on the couch with me and gave him snuggles using an annoying baby voice.  Melvin just laid there.  I got on the floor with Melvin and said ‘you are the best dog ever’ and gave him his own snuggle session.  Jake looked over from his perch then went back to sleeping.  What the… ?

They. Like. Each. Other.  This is pretty huge for two dogs who separately do not enjoy their own species. Love, apparently, is truly all you need.

Of course the moment I push publish on this post, we will probably have an episode of Dogs Gone Wild.  It’s not all daisies and sunshine, Jake still pees on Melvin’s bed EVERY flippen chance he gets.  Luckily, I have a bed buying obsession I notice first and switch out his bed before Melvin has a chance to be offended.

Hey, let’s form a B, for Bitchin Brotherhood. IMG_9697

Use your left googly eye to check if she’s still watching us. Don’t be obvious.IMG_9793

They share a passion for illiteracy. IMG_9827 IMG_9840 IMG_9838

Hey rug, I love my brother more than you.  Bros before hos.IMG_9784

Gimme a kiss you handsome giant. IMG_9610

Happy weekend everyone!