A True Friend

Dakota and Chase usually finish all of their food in one sitting, but every once in a while they don't want to eat it all right away, so they leave it and go elsewhere in the house until they are ready to eat again. Whenever this happens, Chris and I have noticed that they will guard each other's food. Last week Dakota didn't finish her food, so Chase laid by her bowl and guarded it from the other dogs. Last night Chase didn't finish his food, so Dakota guarded it for him. Any time another dog came close, she would get closer to his food to make sure they didn't get any closer. She even put her face into the bowl of food when Simba got too close. Dakota didn't eat the food, she just laid her face in it so no one else would try to eat it. 

Chris and I think it is so funny and cool that Chase and Dakota have this unspoken agreement to guard each other's food. I wonder what made them do this and why they don't just give in and eat the food instead of guarding it. Maybe it's their Rottweiler instincts taking over or maybe it's because they just love each other so much? Either way, you know you have a true friend when they guard your food without eating it. 

For A Good Laugh

Watch this video and listen closely at the beginning...

Waiting for a New Leg

Gabe laid in the workout room this morning when I was working out and he just stared out the window...longing to go for a walk. It was really sad. Every once in a while he would turn to me and look at me with a sad face. I'm sure he's really confused as to why he isn't going for walks every day, especially because he watches me put on my running shoes, which makes him think he is going for a walk. 

Because I felt so guilty and sad for Gabe, I gave him a bunch of treats and then I let him go in the front yard with me and walk down the street. I didn't even bother putting a leash on him because I knew he couldn't take off anywhere. About every 10 feet he had to stop to take a break. Poor guy :(. 

I keep telling Gabe that he's going to get a new leg soon and by the end of the summer we will be going for runs again and this time he won't be sore after. He just stares at me when I tell him this, so until we get back to our daily walks, I'll just set him in front of the TV, turn on Animal Planet and give him a bowl of  Pupparonies. 

Gettin Dirty...Warrior Style

Like I mentioned in the previous post, two of my favorite girls, Kathleen and Paige, and I did the North Texas Warrior Dash on Sunday! It's a 5K run with obstacle courses along the way...some difficult and some not so difficult, but all were VERY fun! We laughed a lot at each other and enjoyed ourselves...we just wanted to have fun!

On Saturday night the girls came over and we went to a new Italian restaurant down the road for dinner so we could carb up for the big race with some pasta and some vino...it's a BYOB restaurant so we each brought our own bottle! After that we went back to my house to hangout and have some birthday cake that Paige brought over for me...yummm. The girls spent the night and we woke up early on Sunday morning to make our way to the race site.

This was before the race with our "Warrior" helmets on.

The race started off and the first obstacle was swimming through a river...it was a little cold. Kathleen brought a disposable waterproof camera with her so we were stopping at almost every obstacle to take pictures. I'm sure people were annoyed with us when they had to run around us, but we were doing it to have fun and make memories! The last two obstacles were jumping over 2 lines of fire and crawling through a mud pit...and you couldn't stand up because there was barbed wire going across the top of the mud pit! So needless to say, we were covered from head to toe in mud at the end of the race. We took lots of pics before we rinsed off...those will be posted soon!

After the race we were rewarded with free beer...what a perfect ending! We had the option of eating giant turkey legs for lunch, but we opted to head towards home and eat at a local Mexican restaurant before we went our separate ways.

You can't have a Warrior Dash without giant turkey legs!

The girls and I have already been talking about how excited we are for next year's Warrior Dash and we've even found some more obstacle course races to do coming up later this year! I'm so glad I have these girls to jump through fire and crawl through mud with...those are the best kind of friends :)

Sir Limps-A-Lot

I've mentioned before that Gabe had ACL surgery on his left back leg about a year and half ago. The surgery was very invasive and his recovery time was about 3 months. The surgeon told us that there was an 85% chance that his right back ACL would tear within 18 months. Back in January we thought it happened, but he had just strained it and eventually he was fine.

Well, on Saturday, it finally happened. Chris and I took the dogs out to the field because it was such a beautiful day. All the dogs were running around and having a good time and then all of a sudden I heard Gabe yelp really loud from across the field and I saw him fall. He tried to get up and as soon as he did, he laid back down. I immediately knew that he blew out his leg and I ran over to him. I helped him up and walked with him back to the car. He wasn't even able to put any weight on his right leg...just like the first time this happened. On the way back to the car, Gabe had to stop a couple times to lay down because his leg was bothering him and Chris had to pick him up to put him in the car so we could go home.

Once we got home I could tell the pain was starting to really bother Gabe because he was crying a lot. Unfortunately, his vet's office was already closed so I couldn't even go there to pick up pain medicine. So I went to the pet store and bought him Aspirin for dogs, along with a new bone and some raw hides (enough for all the dogs of course).

I laid down a big, comfy blanket right in front of the TV for him and he laid there and cried....he didn't even want to watch River Monsters on Animal Planet. This is when I knew he was in A LOT of pain. Poor guy!

That night and the following night, I slept on the big blanket with Gabe and scratched his head and his back until I fell asleep. Neither of us slept very well that night because Gabe was awake and crying most of the night and so that was keeping me awake. I had to wake up early the next morning because my two girlfriends and I were going to do a 5K obstacle course race called the Warrior Dash --this will have a post of it's own so stay tuned!

I can tell that Gabe isn't in as much pain as he was the first day and night because he isn't crying and he's back to watching TV and being happy like he usually is, but it still makes me sad to see him walking around on three legs. It makes me feel sorry for him too when he gets really excited to see me and excited to eat and he starts trying to go fast, only using 3 legs.

Gabe is set to have his surgery on May 17...I know it's still a month away, but it was the first opening available. I'm really hoping that there will be a last minute opening before his scheduled appointment so we can get the surgery over with and start his recovery. The upside to all of this is that once he gets the surgery and recovers, his legs will be stronger than they ever were and he can be my running buddy again! As of now, Gabe is enjoying the extra attention, extra treats, and the big comfy blanket, in perfect view of the TV.

Here's a video of Gabe aka "Sir Limps-A-Lot".

Spoiled

Chris and I LOVE to spoil our dogs and give them most of our attention, all the time.

We usually plan our days around them, making sure that they don't have to go too long without having at least one of us in the house to hangout with them.

When it's a nice day we either take them for walks or we take them to the field to run around. Many days we will just sit in the backyard for an hour or so and play with them.

We always have their dog closet stocked full of treats.

They are never without toys and bones and usually they have more than they can handle.

They have plenty of big, comfy dog beds to sleep on, even though they usually end up in bed with us.

We usually don't kick them out of our bed at night...we end up sacrificing our own space so they can sprawl out, whether it be on top of us or in the middle of the bed. Many nights I end up sleeping in a ball and Chris ends up sharing his pillow with Socks, and Simba sleeps right on top of his legs.

During the day, the dogs have full reign of our bed and the couch.

A lot of the time I let Gabe watch Animal Planet on TV instead of watching one of my favorite shows, because I know it makes him happy.

When Chris and I go to any store that has a pet section, we don't leave without seeing if there is something we can buy for the dogs.

We always make sure that the dogs eat dinner before we eat dinner ourselves.

Every time Chris and I have gone on a ski trip, the big dogs join us and we would take all 7 if we could.

We are considering putting a pool in our backyard...not only for us to enjoy, but for the dogs to enjoy as well.

I think you get the point...we spoil our dogs and we love doing it! They show their appreciation to us every hour of every day by loving Chris and I unconditionally...and that makes it totally worth it.

Did Someone Shoot a Bunny?!?

I'm sure you all grew up with a saying in your house that meant "Did you fart?!?" Well, when I was younger, our secret code for that question was "Did someone shoot a bunny?". I'm not really sure how my mom came up with that, but it stuck, and that question was asked a lot in our house!

In the past several months, Chris and I have noticed that our dogs are "Shooting Bunnies" more than they ever have before and they are usually loud and sound like it's coming from a human! It's mostly our older dogs, Chase, Dakota and Gabe, so we came to the conclusion that they pass gas out loud more often because they are getting older. They usually don't even realize they are farting! They will occasionally turn around and look at their butts like, "What the heck was that?!", and they sniff a little, but quickly go back to what they were doing before.

There have been several times when Chris and I look at each other and say "Eww! Did you just FART?!?" And come to find out..it was one of the dogs. Sometimes when they sit down, they fart several times in a row, and it doesn't even phase them.

A couple nights ago, Dakota was sitting on Chris's lap in the recliner and he said to me, "Erin! Dakota is farting on my lap and it is vibrating my legs!" Of course I laughed because that is HILARIOUS! If I would have done that to him, he would have pushed me off his lap and told me I was disgusting. A couple minutes after that, Dakota farted again on Chris, except it was so loud and so human-like that I thought it was Chris. After he assured me that it wasn't him, we both looked at each other and started laughing.

Instances like these seriously make my day better and it makes me love my dogs even more. You know why? Because it really shows that they are OUR doggie soul mates. What better couple to have dogs that fart like humans?! God really had Chris and I in mind when he created these precious, bunny-shooting pups....that and he knew we would need someone to blame when we shoot our own bunnies ;)

Roll Call

You know you have a lot of dogs when you have to count dog heads before you go to sleep every night to make sure everyone is inside....and the first night that you slack on the job, a dog is left in the backyard until 3:45 in the morning. Sorry Chase!!!

Please Mom?

How can I say no to this face?!?

Fine Gabe, you can have the rest of my snack...only because you're so freakin cute.

Workout Buddies

Chris bought me a new pair of running shoes this weekend as an early birthday gift, so I broke them in with a 3 mile run! I'm training for a bunch of triathlons this summer/fall, so I needed some new shoes to get me through the next several months.

I can never wear running shoes without taking Gabe and Chase for a walk, either before or after my run. They guilt me into it every time! So, I took Gabe and Chase for a very long walk after I got back from my run. It was such a nice day on Saturday, so I extended it longer than the usually route we take for our walks. After we got back I wanted to take this picture...they weren't very happy about me making them sit down. They just wanted to go inside and cool off.

I love spoiling my boys :)

Favorite Toy

It's hard to find dog toys that don't get destroyed in 10 minutes. We usually buy the dogs Nyla bones, which they love, but we also like buying them toys that we can throw for them or they can pull with. Tennis balls usually get lost in our house. They roll under our bed or behind the tv and we don't see them for a while. Doggie ropes usuallly get destroyed in no time because the dogs would rather shred them than actually play with them. Little rubber toys are usually found in little pieces in their poop the next day.

My sister buys her dogs these long, furry, stuffing-free animal toys that squeak and are great for pulling. One of the brands is called "Crazy Critters." They come in different kinds of animals like raccoons, foxes, squirrels, and skunks. For Christmas, I bought the dogs one fox to see if they would like it or not. Well, they LOVED it. They used it to pull with each other and with Chris and I. Sometimes I see Jack walking around with it all in his mouth and then he will go up to Simba and Emma and taunt them with it.

This past week I bought them a racoon and they were SO excited. As soon as I pulled it out of the bag they were jumping all over me trying to get to the raccoon. The dogs were all over each other trying to steal the raccoon from each other.

When they were fighting over the raccoon, I tried to distract some of them with the fox and I realized it was missing it's head! Poor guy.

I highly recommend buying one of these toys for your dogs. My parents bought one for their new dog, Mollie, and she loves it and likes to taunt Patch with it. Some of the more expensive pet stores sell these toys for about $12-$15, depending on the length you choose. I found ours at Ross for $5.99 and it was the large size! I will be going back to pick up a few more this week, just incase the raccoon loses his head too.



Spring is in the Air!

On Saturday we decided to load our dogs in the car and take them to the field down the road from our house. They know when we are taking them to play so they get really excited and make all sorts of noises in the car. Emma likes to squeak a lot and Chase and Gabe whine. The other dogs mostly pant and smush their faces against the windows and try to climb over the back seats to get to the front with Chris and I.

As soon as we parked and opened up the back door, the dogs flew out of the car and started running at full speed around the field. Chris and I chased them and they chased us some too. After about 15 minutes they were exhausted so one by one, they started laying down on a little, shaded hill at the edge of the field. Chris and I thought this would be the perfect time to take pictures with them, since they were all laying down next to each other. These pictures were the first ones we have been able to get with all 7 of the dogs in them. Too bad we didn't have another person with us to take the pictures so Chris and I both could be in them at the same time. These will have to do for now though!

Ready to go play!



True love




Happy Family