When my husband Bret and I were growing up, we both had dogs. He had a german shepherd and I had a labrador retriever. I grew up with my lab - she was the calmest, sweetest thing. She would lay around all the time and just be the most loving, faithful servant to man you can ever imagine. In the first years of our marriage, Bret and I always wanted a dog, but never lived anywhere big enough to accommodate one. But then we bought our house.
We had been thinking of getting a dog, but had never got the ball rolling. Then one day we went hiking out in the country, at a park next to a farm. One of the farm dogs snuck over to the park and proceeded to hike with us. She was the sweetest little thing and we all fell in love with her instantly. In fact we were so enamored with her, that we weren't really paying enough attention to our young daughter who got into a couple of scrapes. She would complain and ask us for help but we would just say, "Tatum , get up and come over here to see what this amazing dog has just done!" We figured it was time to start our hunt for the newest furry member of our family. So we went home and started looking for dogs online. We found a chocolate lab in a nearby shelter named Finnigan who needed adopted a.s.a.p. So that Monday Bret went to look at her and ended up bringing home ! When we first got her, she was very weak, scared and very quiet and loving - a very faithful servant to us. But then she started getting used to the good life, and getting fat and spoiled and her true personality shone through.
I once saw a blurb about A Dog's Life. It showed a dog's daily schedule: 6:00 a.m. Go for a walk - MY FAVORITE THING! 8:00 Breakfast - OH BOY! MY FAVORITE THING! 12:00 Go out to check the mail - MY FAVORITE THING! And so on....
Every morning for Finn starts between 3:00 and 5:00 a.m. when she decides I need woke up by opening my bedroom door herself - slamming into the wall, plopping down noisily in the floor by my bed and proceeding to give herself loud, disgusting sounding baths off and on all "morning" until my feet finally hit the floor. ( She often joins alliances with our cat Lucy - who loathes Finn - to come and join in on waking me up). Finn often breaks into the bathroom where I am getting ready in the morning, whether she is invited or not, just to remind me that she is ready to go outside - anytime now.
Now it is time for our walk - MY FAVORITE THING! We have a park behind our house, which she drags me throughout every day making absolute sure to approach and awkwardy sniff everyone who comes near us. And she must, absolutely must have an audience nearby when she poops - she will wait for it. But sometimes someone nice will come up and make all over her and she will be very cute and snuggly with them, and then I just die:)
Our next step in our day is when the daycare kids start arriving! FAVORITE THING! Finn loves the daycare kids. They feed her at least 50% of their breakfast and lunches, and when they get in the floor to play, she goes over and gets a dog toy out of her pile and plays with her toys while they play with theirs. She knows to creep after them when they are playing with puzzles, waiting for someone to drop a rogue puzzle piece for her to chew up. Puzzle pieces are her favorite chew toys - the more expensive the puzzle costs the better the pieces taste. The last couple of months we have had double the kids due to summer break, so double the fun! Whew! Summer break is a killer. (But that is a different blog.)
During the school year she rides along in the backseat of my car while I pick up kids from school. RIDING IN THE CAR IS MY FAVORITE! And if their is a dog/cat/bird/squirrel/person on bike she LOVES to stick her head out of the window and whine in the loudest possible dog voice at the offending/exciting stimulant often scaring the stimulant out of their wits! People will cross the street to walk on the other side of school parking lot if they spy her in the car.
After school she gets to go outside again for a walk via my daughter Tatum who is 13. AFTER NOON WALK - FAVORITE!! Being 13, the harsh reality of life hasn't sunk into Tatum enough to be jaded and prepared for the worst. Every day she takes Finn out trusting that Finn will just go out to the grass and do her business, then faithfully go in the house with no incidents. But the reality is, just about every day I see/hear Tatum yelling at her to come back, stop barking, don't chase that nice person! Lots of times she will get a friend/neighbor/older daycare kid to assist her in retrieving our retriever - probably making the person think the dog belongs to her assistant.
Next comes a close second to her favorite time of day which is me cooking dinner. FAVORITE THING! She lays just outside the kitchen and "helps" me by sleeping on the floor and appearing out of nowhere to readily accept scraps I may be wanting to feed her. Another alliance formed between her and the cat.
Lots of times after dinner we go for a family walk. The other night Bret had the most wonderful idea!!! Our daughter Tatum was riding her skateboard, and he decided to get it and harness all of Finn's excess energy to pull him around the park on the skateboard. And it worked! If only we could get her to learn to drag us to run some errands, we could really save on gas money!
Her day always ends with one more trip outside - absolutely on a leash. Somebody else who really likes the park behind our house is a nice family of skunks. They love to venture out at night, and they have the same opinion of Finn as our cat. She has been sprayed multiple times. Then when she comes in, she hunkers right down on her chair (our nice, new, pricey chaise lounge - the dog has expensive tastes!) and goes to sleep. So always looks cute and sweet while she is sleeping, that I magically forget all the mischief for the whole day.
Until I wake up at 4:00 a.m. again by a THWACK when she busts into my room. MY FAVORITE THING!
My Grace Is Sufficient For You,
For My Power Is Made Perfect In Weakness.
2 Corrinthians 12:9
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