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!!!