Our House has gone to the Dogs

Literally. Dogs rule our household. We have three of them. Our oldest is Chloe, she is ten, and is a Eurasier. Fast Eddie, is seven, and is a Puggle. And finally, Chancey who is also seven is a Scottish Terrier. In my old blog are many stories about them and in time you will have the opportunity to read all about them on Flash Back Fridays!

All five of us have one thing in common, we all have some type of dysfunctional behavior. I could write volumes about our issues, but this posting is about our dogs and theirs. Chloe is our very first dog that we adopted. Chloe is a rescue who as a puppy was abandoned and was shot. If you rub her side, you can feel where the buckshot still is. Needless to say, any type of loud noise, (fireworks, thunder, nail gun, even a marching band with drums), will cause her to have a meltdown. Fast Eddie, aka Eddie, aka Edward Wayne, on the other hand is fearless and that has led to many emergency visits to the vets. You will find out more about his exploits in due time. Chancey being a terrier from Kansas is always looking for the yellow brick road. More about that later.

Ok, back to the house. We have a side table next to the couch that in reality is a dog crate! It’s wood with nice metal rungs and not the typical metal cage which definitely would not have matched the decor in our living room. This is for Chancey when we are not at home. He’s safe and secure and Fast Eddie can’t annoy him as easily. Unfortunately, when Chancey get annoyed he acts out by peeing on the rugs.

We have three containers of dog toys hanging out in the living room assorted by types. Large stuffed animals in one, smaller ones in another and the hard things like bones and plastic dinosaurs in the third. Did I mention that the couch, ottoman and all the beds have to be covered to be protected from hair and wet feet? The dogs have their own set of towels to be used to wipe their paws off when they come in from the outside. How I hate the muddy season! Plus they need their blankets to cuddle in. We are talking lots of laundry.

We had to get the back and front yards fenced to keep them contained. Putting on shoes, leashing them up and taking them out in the rain, snow and the middle of the night got old real quick. And, do they like to dig! When it gets too bad, I find large rocks and just lay them in the holes until I fill them up with dirt. That can make mowing interesting especially when I don't move the rocks..

And feeding time! Thanks to Eddie, who will eat everyone else’s food, the dogs have to be fed in different parts of the house. Even so, one is required to be a referee to protect their food from Eddie. Chloe is very protective of her food and does not take kindly to Eddie eating hers. After all these years, Eddie still hasn’t learned to leave her alone while she is eating.

Then there is the barking and howling. Chancey has issues with motorcycles and will start barking when he hears them while they are still miles from our house. Also, he doesn’t like runners or humans walking their dogs past our house either. For reasons we can’t fathom, cars have a tendency to turn around in our driveway on a regular basis. That creates major howling from all three dogs that goes on way too long.

Now if you are a dog lover, you will understand all of this. If you are a cat owner or have no pets you won’t. But is spite of everything including the expense of feeding them, lots of vet bills and rugs that have to be professionally cleaned, they are worth every dollar spent. Talk about unconditional love. They always greet me at the door and are thrilled that I came home. I had ex-husbands who didn’t even notice when I came through the doorway. Chloe, Eddie and Chancey sense when I’m sad or upset. When I‘m crying my eyes out, they will come and stay by my side ‘til my tears subside. When I want to take a nap or read, they cuddle me which is more than I got from my ex-husbands.

So a parting thought for tonight. My entire adult life I thought I loved men and cats. At the age of 49, I found I was allergic to both!  I am so very thankful that I share my life with Mary, Chloe, Fast Eddie and Chancey. I am so blessed.

Until next time, cheers!

P.S. - Friday's  Flash Back is going to be about Chancey and his obsession with roads that have the double yellow lines.