Tip of the Day From the Crazy Dog Lady

Do not wear Ugg boots when taking 2 oversized dogs for a walk...they do not offer support when you need it the most. For example, like when said dogs see a tiny dog and decide that they want to get closer. And closer. And closer. Until you are on your butt getting dragged across the grass and your pinky finger gets torn up. If only I would have worn my Asics.

The two main culprits...they look sweet and innocent but when they get in the zone it's a different story.

After the walk (which was cut short because I was so mad at them) Gabe went right back to watching MTV's "16 and Pregnant", like he didn't even do anything.

That's ok, because I couldn't stay mad at them for longer than 5 minutes anyways. But my finger still hurts!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful that I got my best 5K time at the Turkey Trot this morning and for having 2 of the best running partners!

Dakota is thankful for having Chris to snuggle with.

Chase is thankful for a comfortable couch to lounge on.

Gabe is thankful for the leftover potroast I fed him right before I took this picture.

All the dogs and Chris are thankful for a king bed so our whole family can enjoy snuggle time.



Emma is thankful for having our bed all to herself.

All of the dogs are thankful for many, many Thanksgiving milkbone treats, just because I love spoiling them! (The next 3 pictures are of the dogs patiently waiting for their treats...it's hard to get them all in one)

 

I'm thankful for my husband and best friend!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

Unrelaxing Bath Time

This is what happens when I try to take a relaxing bath and forget to close the door all the way...

My first two visitors are Socks and Gabe

Then Emma joins in

Socks tries to drink my bath water

Simba joins the crew

Gabe really wants to get in

Simba wishes she could take a hot bubble bath

Emma really likes the Philosophy bath bubbles that Kathleen got me!

They all hung around until I got out of the bath. So much for alone time!

Introducing: Dakota (The Guardian)

I'm saving the CRAZIEST for the last...I've been looking forward to this one since I started the doggie intros.

Dakota is our female rottweiler. She is a hot mess. She snorts ALL THE TIME, she gangs up on Socks in a big sister sort of way, she walks around with her snout in the air, she loves food and everyone else's food, she loves Chase, and she LOOOOVES Chris.

Puppy Dakota...she just looks like trouble

Dakota is "The Guardian" at our house. She likes to guard our house. If Dakota hears a noise that may sound suspicious to her she growls, barks, and heads straight for the front door. This is totally perfect for me because I don't like staying at home by myself, but sometimes it's a little annoying when the noise she hears comes from the tv or from one of the other dogs.

Dakota also likes to guard food. If any of the dogs come within 10 feet of her when she is eating she will growl. Sometimes she growls as she's eating, even if no one is around. Socks and Simba take their time eating. They eat a little and will go back for more as they want it. Sometimes they don't even finish until the next morning. But, if they don't finish their food by the end of the night, Dakota will lay by their bowl of food until they eat it. She won't eat it and she won't let any other dog eat it unless it is the rightful owner. She will lay down by the bowl and growl, very low, if any dog walks too close. Dakota will sleep all night by their food if she has to, just as long as no one eats it.

Whenever Chris brings in a new bag of dog food into the house and leaves it sitting in the kitchen, Dakota will lay by the bag of food and will keep all of the other dogs away. She does the same thing with Chris's food. When Chris is eating, she will stand right next to him and growl at the other dogs if they come too close to his food.

Dakota also likes to guard Chris. She really likes to snuggle with him, even when he doesn't feel like snuggling with her. She will literally force herself into his arms until she is right where she wants to be. If I try to interrupt her snuggle time with Chris, she will growl at me and block him from me. Also, if Chris and I are playing around or even hugging, she will get in between us and bark at me and jump on me to protect Chris. BUT, Dakota is my best friend whenever I'm giving out treats. Surprise. Surprise.

One of my favorite stories of Dakota and her guard dog nature is one night when we gave all the dogs a raw hide bone. Dakota usually doesn't finish her bone but she loves to guard it and she does not want anyone else coming close to her bone. This is a problem because Socks doesn't have much interest in her own bone, but she likes to go help all the other dogs eat their bones. So, this one night they were all eating their raw hides, except for Socks and Dakota. Socks walked over to Dakota and started bothering her like she always does and tried to lick Dakota's bone. Dakota growled and bore her teeth but Socks didn't back down. Well, I guess after all the growling Dakota was thirsty so she stood up and walked over to the water bowl...with her bone still in her mouth. Socks followed her and Dakota kept growling, and Socks still did not get the hint to back off. So, as soon as Dakota walked up to the water bowl, she dropped her bone in the water so Socks couldn't get it. Dakota drank the water and was growling at the same time so she was making a gurgling sound. When she drank as much as she wanted, she pulled the bone back out of the water bowl and laid down by the couch and continued to guard her bone as Socks continued to try to help her eat it. We don't even need a t.v. when we have all this entertainment!

Dakota with her best dog friend Chase

Another story about Dakota, one that made me very angry at the time, is of course another incident with food. Except, it was MY food. I had my family over to our house to watch an OU football game. I had made lots of food and I had just pulled the spinach and artichoke dip out of the oven. I was SO excited to chow down and eat it. I set it on the counter to cool down as I watched a little bit of the game. When I walked back into the kitchen Dakota's head was buried in the bowl of dip and after I yelled at her to stop, she turned around and looked at me, with her front paws still on the counter and a beard made of spinach and artichoke, and she smiled a mocking smile at me. I'm not going to lie, I may have cried a little because I was so excited about the dip, but shortly after that I couldn't help to laugh at the ridiculousness that is Dakota. I really wish I had a picture of her and her spinach and artichoke dip beard.

Dakota is a crazy, sassy,  food loving, and Chris loving dog. I think this is why I love her so much, because she reminds me of myself!

I have many, many crazy and funny stories about Dakota and the other 6 pups, so keep checking back for lots of laughs! There will be a total of 10 dogs at my house this weekend (our 7, my parent's dog Patch, and my neice and nephew dogs) so there will definately be a lot of stories to blog about after that!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Introducing: Emma!

It's been a while since I last posted! There are 2 dogs left that I need to introduce and then on to all of my funny and crazy stories about actually living with 7 dogs.

Emma is our 4th biggest dog. She looks a lot like Simba but she is taller and leaner. The funny thing is, when Emma was a puppy she was the fattest of them all. She looked like she would be a plumper forever but she grew into a lean body with long legs. However, she does still eat like there's no tomorrow. Emma is, without fail, the first of the dogs to finish her dinner every single night. When all the other dogs finish eating, Emma makes sure to lick their bowls clean for them just incase they left any crumbs.

Emma can jump really high. One of her favorite tricks is to run and jump as high as she can into Chris's arms. (I'll post a video of this soon)

I don't have many pictures of Emma to share because for some reason she is scared of the camera and the iphone. Chris and I have caught Emma in some perfect photo opps, but sure enough, as soon as the camera or the iphone comes out, she runs away. We aren't really sure what her deal is but it can get very frustrating!

Emma is probably our most laid back dog. She doesn't cause any problems, she doesn't bother the other dogs and she's pretty quiet most of the time. Whenever our bedroom door is open, we can always find her lounging on our bed, usually with her head on the pillow.