Happy 4th Birthday Gabey!

My big headed wolf boy is turning 4 today, which makes him 28 in dog years. That explains why he thinks he is the boss of me.

A few things have changed since his last birthday...

On December 28, Gabe had to have a very intrusive surgery because he tore his ACL in his back left leg. He was confined to our guest room for 2 weeks, where I also spent most of my Christmas vacation by his side. He was very spoiled with new toys and bones and a LOT of treats. Gabe was not allowed to go on a walk for 3 months, which was very difficult because he was used to going for a walk everyday. At first it didn't matter much because he was drugged up and slept most of the time, but the last couple months I would find him sitting by the door patiently waiting for me to put his leash on and take him on our daily walking route. Since his surgery, Gabe's leg is stronger than ever. The vet says there is a 75% change that his other leg will need surgery but so far I haven't seen any signs that he is having trouble with it. We still go for our daily walks and now, Chase (one of our rotts) has been joining us. They are both really strong so I'm not so much walking, but being pulled the whole time.

In March, after Gabe was allowed to go for walks again, Chris and I took Chase, Gabe and Dakota (our other rott) on a ski trip to Santa Fe. We cleared out both rows of seats in the tahoe so the dogs could have the whole back of the car to lounge in. We stayed in a cute little cabin and even though we told the dogs not to get in bed with us, they made their way up and Chris and I found ourselves with barely any room because the dogs were sprawled out on OUR bed. Chris and I only when skiing for half days so the other half of the day we took the dogs to play in the snow. They LOVED it.

The most interesting change since Gabe's last birthday has happened recently, within the last few months. I wrote about it in an earlier post...how he loves to watch t.v. He has increased his television watching time since the last post. He starts off the day with "Pet Star" at 7 am and then watches "It's Me or the Dog" at 7:30. When I leave for work in the morning I usually try to give him a hug and kiss goodbye but he does not like it when I get in the way of the t.v., so he just dodges me and if I don't turn on the t.v. for him in the morning, he will let me know. The good thing about his new habit is that if I'm cleaning or if I want to relax, I just turn on the t.v. for him and it keeps him entertained for hours. If I tell all the dogs to go outside for a little bit and Gabe is watching tv, he will look at me and lay down right in front of the tv to let me know he is not going outside. Who said watching t.v. is a bad thing?

Happy Birthday Gabey Boy! Here's to another year with lots of excitement! (but no more injuries)