Bruce, Leo & Riley

Aren't they adorable?

An October picnic

Today is a gorgeous fall day and the kids decided to put on a picnic lunch for the family. They made the sandwiches themselves, got every one's drink orders and laid out the blanket. Even Leo had his food and water bowl outside although, as you'll notice in the pictures, he would have preferred to be eating the people food.

Desperate Dog

Auntie Di has been doing a wonderful job of teaching Leo all sorts of fun dog tricks over the past few months. Beyond the usual "sit", "stay", and "lay down" she also taught him "paw" (shake) and "kisses".

Typically when we go to give Leo a treat we have him do one of his tricks. I personally tend to get into a rut and do the same one over and over again - usually whatever his newest trick is - so as soon as Leo sees a treat in my hand he immediately does the whole trick (i.e., he'll immediately sit down and hand me his paw instead of waiting for me to say "sit" and then "paw".)

Last night I took out the granddaddy of all treats from the treat box. A big old bone called "The Busy Bone". He loves these things and doesn't get them often. As soon as I had it in my hand he immediately started going through every trick he knows in order to get me to hand over the bone.

He would sit and then try to hand me his paw. When I didn't take that he would jump up and try to kiss me. Then he would lay down. When that didn't work he'd try them all again. Finally he was laying down while trying to give me his paw at the same time and putting his face up trying to give kisses from the floor. Over and over and over again. I have never seen a dog so desperate to come up with the right combination of tricks that would get him what he desired.

He's lucky I could stop laughing long enough to hand over the Busy Bone.

Professional cleaning

Lincoln pointed out to me today that we used to have our house professionally cleaned before my Mom came to visit. Now we just have the dog professionally cleaned before she gets here.

A very exhausted girl....and dog

Hannah stayed with my sister Debbie and her husband Mark this weekend. They have a yellow lab puppy that followed her everywhere but after a long, busy weekend I think both of them were completely worn out.

I love the fact that he's laying on her legs like Leo does but he probably weighs about 50 lbs more than Leo. What a difference!

2010 Tick Count

Jake: 1

Hannah: 0

Leo: 1

More fun at the doggie daycare

Playing tug-of-war with Sam:

Chilling in the pool:

My new favorite picture of Leo

I just got this picture from my sister-in-law Diane. It was taken many months ago when Leo was still a very little puppy with her dog, Bruce.

Aren't they adorable? Especially since, as a rescued greyhound, Bruce is trained to chase little things like Leo and yet they get along so well.

Sleeping arrangements

I've never been a huge animal lover and I've never been a fan of dogs but that all changed with Leo. I'm so madly in love with that dog. He is just so darn cute and sweet and well-behaved.

Not long after we got him we discovered he did a lot better at night if we didn't crate him. Basically we came to the mutual agreement with him that if we didn't crate him he'd stop pooping and peeing on the floor while we slept. As soon as we let him start sleeping in our room he magically was able to hold it all night long. Go figure.

And once he was out of his crate there wasn't anything to stop him from sleeping with us. We sleep with the door open because of the kids so he'd just come right on in and sleep at the foot of our bed. Occasionally he sleeps with Hannah and once or twice with Jake but nine times out of ten he sleeps with us.

Once again we have come to a mutual agreement that benefits him more than us....and yet I don't mind it all. For such a small dog he takes up a surprisingly large amount of room in a king size bed. The new agreement is that he sleeps wherever he wants and I contort myself around him. So far it's working out. An added bonus is that it has brought Link and I that much closer - literally - since Leo usually sleeps on my side of the bed, I sleep in the middle, and Link sleeps on his side.

Who ever thought I'd turn into such a dog lover?

Into the vortex

For the past week Hannah has been in Seattle and Leo, every now and then, seems a little confused as to her absence. I was telling my sister-in-law, also named Diane, about this and she said he probably wonders what she did to get sent away.

We always use the side door of our house to go in and out. I can probably count on one hand the number of times we've used our front door before today. We did have to use it today though because I painted the breezeway floor with bond adhesive before we laid down the linoleum. Most of the day we had to use the front door, including when Leo went up to Di's doggie daycare. Lincoln was standing on the front step, with the door open, calling his name but Leo just stood there and looked at him. This is exceptionally strange since Leo usually just sits by the door anxiously awaiting the trip up to Di's house so that he can play with the other dogs.

Me: It was so funny this morning. When Link went to bring Leo up to your house he sat by the front door and didn't know what to do. He didn't seem to want to go out that door.

Diane: He's probably thinking "Is that the door Hannah went out?"

Love vs. Torture (subtitled: a very fine line)

Jake can be a bully sometimes but he's usually only a bully with kids that are older than him. He is really good with babies which led me to believe he'd be really good with a puppy. Unfortunately that isn't always true. He tends to love Leo just a little too hard. Jake squeezes him too hard and pats him on the head too hard but it's all because he loves him and just doesn't quite understand how fragile a puppy can be.

Tonight Leo, Jake, and I were riding home in the car together. Leo was curled up on the seat next to Jake and Jake was petting him very nicely.

Jake: Mommy, look at how gentle I'm being with Leo.

Me: I see that. Good job.

Jake: Just wait until Hannah comes home and sees how nice I'm being. Usually I torture him!

Leo on the Vineyard - a photo essay

Houdini

Tonight we had Kristen's graduation party at the bowling alley. Right as we left the house a major thunderstorm started. I felt terrible leaving Leo in his crate because he is terrified of thunder but I figured it would be better for him to be in his crate at the house then for him to be terrified in the back of our car.

We had a great night at Pinz and we all had fun bowling. After we finished bowling the "grown ups" went home (i.e. my East Coast parents and Deb's parents) and Link, Hannah, Jake and I played laser tag with Shani, Kristen, and Erika. What a blast! We had so much fun.

After laser tag we played in the arcade for awhile and when we got in the car at the end of the night Hannah informed me it was one of the best nights of her entire life. I have to say, I would agree. We really had a great time as a family and as an extended family. I really do love the Walkers as my own and we are so blessed to be a part of their family.

But I digress, this post started out about Houdini.

We had to leave Leo home in his crate by himself. By the time we got home I was very anxious to get in the house and let him out of his crate. Well guess who met me at the door? That's right, the individual who I thought was locked in a crate in another room. He did pretty good though. Other than tearing up some paper that was near his bed in the office he didn't really do anything to the house. Considering he's a 9-month old puppy I think we're pretty lucky.

But......we still obviously need to get a padlock for his crate.

I've always told Jake if he became the middle child he'd become "the forgotten one". Apparently I was right.

Lincoln: Leo, I'm not going to listen to you ask me the same question every 30 seconds while I finish doing this. Just wait.

Me: Did you just call Jake "Leo"?

Lincoln: I don't know, did I?

Me: Yes, I believe so.

(a little while later - a different conversation)

Me: .....so then I told Leo he had to go to the bathroom before we left Grandma and Grandpa's house....

Lincoln: You just called him Leo.

Me: Oh crap. I did, didn't I?

Self-Punishment

Jake and Leo were wrestling on the couch earlier and Jake got a little too rough with Leo. He pushed him off the couch rather harshly.

Me: JACOB!

Jake: Sorry! Sorry! I'll go to my room (as he took off running).

Luckily he ran so quickly he didn't see me burst into uncontrollable laughter at him punishing himself.

Do you think he was trying to tell us it was time to go?

Leo always tries to leave the house with us. Most days when we leave it means he gets to go up to Diane's doggie daycare, which he loves, but even on the other days it just means he's not being left alone. Either way, if we leave, he wants to leave. This was taken on Easter morning when we were packing up to head over to Bob and Gail's for lunch. He clearly didn't want to be left behind.

Happy Easter!

Too freaking adorable

Leo's big trip into Boston

Today we took Leo into Boston with us when we went to do Hannah's photo essay. Despite the fact that he is truly a country dog - and bit afraid of cars - he did great in the "big city".

Keeping careful watch over my babies

Last night I let both kids fall asleep in my bed since Lincoln was out of town. Leo made sure to keep close watch over them for me.

Right now a sick Jakey is sleeping on the couch and Leo is curled up with him. He looks so sad every time Jake starts throwing up. What a sweet puppy.