Chair.

Well, here is another photo of everyone cuddling together in mom’s bed:

And here is what Gravy is doing when she is NOT cuddling with the rest of the pack:

Awesome. Gotta love the chewing phase puppies go through…

Gravy Antics.

It has been a while… here is what we have been up to…

The loveliness of having a puppy:

Help with laundry

Annoy her big brother

(this would be Gravy trying to nurse on Meatloaf… And then when she didn’t get what she wanted she would chew on his leg)

Keep mom warm

Eat the chairs in the dining room

Take care of the house plants and rip up paper towels

Destroy toys

Chew on my grandmothers handmade cat statue

And look adorable while sleeping 🙂

Puppy Butt.

Sleeping with a puppy can be a pain in the butt… And then some times they are just so good at cuddling or just look so cute that you forget how much of a pain in the butt they are! Take tonight for example:

(pardon the puppy butt!)

I mean, how cute is she?!

Sweet dreams to all our two-legged and four-legged friends out there!

Gravy.

Meet Gravy!

Yes. We decided to name her Gravy. We were trying to come up with food names to go with Meatloaf. And it just stuck! She is sloppy and messy and warm and full of love, just like good gravy. Wow. That was cheesy. But so true!

So far it’s going good. She needs to learn when Bear and Oscar mean business (and are not just playing with her) and she needs to stop biting my Loafy’s face! Not that he cares, but I don’t want his gorgeous face full of scratches from little puppy teeth!

She loves Meatloaf. They play and run around the backyard together, she follows him around, and has to lay touching him. It really is so cute to watch her try to play or try to nurse on him. Or when she gets up and has to lay on top of him. He is such a good big brother.

Will keep you all posted on how this goes but we are sure we are keeping her and she will fit in perfectly with our little dog family.

Freddy.

I just wanted to share some photos of Freddy, and again say how much I wished it would have worked out with him. I’m praying that he will find his forever home soon! Please, always remember, Adopt Don’t Shop!

Christmas.

Merry Christmas! This year we changed it up a bit, no tree because we were afraid Meatloaf would pee on it and Oscar and him would get in to the packages that were under the tree. We did stockings though, and always do one for the dogs (the middle one), and I can’t wait to give them all their new toys.

Also, this year we have a new addition to the family. We have been talking for some time, my brother and I, about getting Meatloaf a friend. I mentioned it before in my “Twins” post. Well we have been working with Chicago Pit Stop Rescue and they brought us a dog on Christmas Eve. We did a meet and greet and things seemed to be going well and they ended up leaving Freddy with us.

Well, everything was going smoothly and then Meatloaf started playing with him and things went from play to aggression really fast. We know that it’s the first day, and these things take time but we just don’t know how long Freddy (who we really want to rename Oogie) will try to dominate Meatloaf. We just worry that one of them will get hurt trying to decide ranks.

It’s actually strange, because he seems almost scared of the little dogs, but with Meatloaf he tries to show him up. And only when Loaf tries to play, all other times they are all great together. Right now we are all sleeping together on the couch, cuddled up in blankets.

(the little ones on my lap)

So, because playing turns to fighting we are holding off giving the boys their Christmas toys. At least until we see how the next couple of days go.

Eric and I decided that we will give it a couple days and see if things get better. We are doing everything CPSR suggests (walking them together, having some together time and separate time, stopping it right away and showing that we are in charge, etc) and we hope that it works out however if they can’t play together (and that’s the main reason we got another dog) then I don’t think it’s going to work. Anyone out there have any more suggestions I would greatly appreciate it!

But, either way, eventually we will give the boys their toys and then I will take some pictures of the destruction that will be my living room after they pull all the stuffing out of everything. Stay tuned!

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and hoping Santa brought you exactly what you wanted!

One Year.

One year ago today we brought Meatloaf home. We decide that since we don’t know his real birthday, December 23 would be it. It has been an interesting year, and he is such a pain in my ass, however I wouldn’t give it up for anything! He’s a very sensitive, loving, goofy part of the family.

So happy birthday Meatloaf!!

stay tuned for something exciting! I may have an announcement tomorrow!

Tess.

I haven’t really spoken about Tess yet. However, I just found out that a friends three and a half year old dog has cancer. They are hoping it was caught early enough that steroids will help but we will see. Fingers crossed. But all this brought back many memories, some bad, many good, of Tess.

I hadn’t wanted to adopt another dog. But when a co-worker showed me a newspaper article about a rescue that does great things with what would normally be unwanted dogs (dogs that are too aggressive, old, or sick to be adopted) I had to check out their website. That’s when I saw her. She went by Tess but they were also calling her Granny. She was a 14 year old pit bull who had a serious skin condition. Here is the picture that was on the website:

To say I fell in love with her immediately would be an understatement. She needed me. And more importantly, I needed her. I got her in the middle of October 2010. She had horrible skin, swollen feet, weird scars that couldn’t be explained, and proof that she had had many MANY litters of puppies over the years. They didn’t know her background (puppy mill? Stray? Locked in someone’s backyard and ignored?) either way she now would only know love. Thinking about what she had to go through in her surprisingly long life breaks my heart and can bring me to tears in minutes.

Considering her past, she was seriously the sweetest dog I have ever met in my life. When I first met her (at Found, with The Boys) she rolled over and kissed me on the nose. “I’ll take her!!” I said. “She’s mine!”

She was being fostered with two big dogs. I was told that she claimed a crate as her own and would most likely like one at my home. No problem! I went out and got all sorts of things, new things, just for her, as soon as I knew I was approved to adopt her.

I had just moved into my new apartment and my mattress was still on the floor in my bedroom… Tess, her first night there (after checking out the whole apartment, barking at my bird, and rolling around on the carpet in the office to scratch her dry itchy skin) found my bed and decided she would prefer to sleep there, instead of the crate. I bet she never had a bed of her own. Needless to say, the crate was a waste of money.

Unfortunately, I only had her for 11 months. I had to put her to sleep in September 2011 because she had stage four lymphoma. Deciding what was best for her, and not what I wanted was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.

She had an infinity for leather things: shoes, belts… my brother baseball glove! Thank goodness we were all sitting right there when she took the glove off the coffee table, otherwise I don’t think my brother would have ever forgiven her.

When she was getting sicker, it got harder for her to go up the back stairs, so I had to carry her. She could never jump up on the couch or the bed (once I got the bed up off the floor) so I had to help her. And she eventually stopped eating. They were worried that she would start to have problems breathing, and that’s when I knew that there was nothing more that I could do for her, without putting her through a lot of stress and pain.

It was difficult to remember at times that she had a great last year of life. I wish I could have done more for her. I miss her everyday and hope to see her again one day.

Twins.

So, not that we need another dog, but I put in an application for a dog this week. The only reason I did was because he is Meatloaf’s twin. I’m serious! Check out that picture! It’s almost creepy, right?!

Well they called me yesterday and then again today to talk about Hunk, Meatloaf’s long lost twin brother, but it doesn’t look like it is going to work out. Apparently Hunk is a little possessive of his toys and bones. And since Oscar is a brat and loves to steal toys we didn’t think it would be a good fit. Which is sad, because Meatloaf really needs someone to play with that is his size. One day….

So since we can’t take him, you should go to Chicago Pit Stop Rescue and adopt Hunk. Because he really deserves a good home.

The Loaf.

I had rescued a dog from Found two years ago, and after she passed (I will tell you more about Tess later) I decided I woudl go back to Found to get my next dog. I checked their site and though I prefer a “special needs” puppy I couldn’t stop looking Meatloaf’s picture on their website. I contacted them and set up a time to bring the boys in so we could meet him and see how everyone got along. He was even more beautiful in person, but he seemed sad.

Once everything went smoothly, and the staff informed me that he was having some behavioral issues since he had been passed around to a few houses before coming to Found. So, really, when you think about it, he was “special needs” in a sense which made me happy and helped me make the final decision to bring him home.

A month before this, my brother moved in with me. To say he was not thrilled that I was bringing home another dog would be an understatement. But the moment I walked in the door with The Loaf, he was as in love with him as I was. “That’s a good lookin’ dog” he said. We let him explore and then brought the boys out to play. Things were a little crazy but overall the night was going well. Eric went and sat on the couch, Meatloaf joined him… and thus begun the bond between a man and his dog.

I do not know how to explain it. But it literally only took about an hour for Meatloaf to bond and fall in love with my brother. Don’t get me wrong, he loves me very much. But Meatloaf is now, and will forever be, my brothers dog. He follows him around the house, he sits outside the bathroom door, he waits at the front door when he leaves, he whines when he goes to do laundry, he doesn’t like to eat when he is around… he just wants to be with Eric all the time. If he isn’t home when I go to bed Meatloaf will sleep with me… until Eric gets home. If he isn’t home and I am relaxing on the couch watching TV, he will sit with me until Eric gets home and then he will hang with him in his room watching him play video games. It’s cute… in that annoying “hey-I-adopted-you!” sort of way. 🙂

I was going to change his name, but then once I got him home we all realized that he really is a Meatloaf. The name suits him so well. He is a trouble maker just like Oscar, and the two of them together into all sorts of mischief. They are good partners in crime. Oscar may not like to eat my shoes but Meatloaf surely does. I have lots of stories to share about Loafy eating things that he shouldn’t.