the dog with a guilt complex

I called to give him back. I called a week after having a tiny, furry terrorizing puppy in our home to give him back. He was nipping at the kids all day long, he was hyper (I thought he was mellow when bringing him home). It was just too much work, and I did not have an ounce of extra energy or attention for anything else. My plate was full.

Luckily we didn't give him back. It's been 18 months and our dog has turned into a great dog. And I can't believe I'm saying this, I even like him now. He's definitely not perfect, **be forewarned, he still humps everyone, we are working on this**.  But besides the humping, and always flashing us his unit, ahem, he is essential to our house now. He watches over the kids, all.day.long. If they are outside, he is right there. He keeps constant property control, he knows who belongs at our house, and who is a stranger. He knows what time the girls come home from school and what time is too late to be in our driveway. This is priceless to me.   He also is really scary when he's mad at someone on our property late at night.  He waits at the bus stop with Phoebe, he goes on my runs with me, he even enjoys Ty's humongous hikes he goes on. He follows grandpa on his 4-wheeler and the girls on their bikes. He endures Rodney's constant poking,  prodding, wrestling and body slams.

Most importantly he has outgrown barking at strange objects at 2am. For his first year if something was misplaced on the yard and he stumbled upon it he would turn into an ambulance siren. Alert! Alert! Something is in the yard!

One night it was a toddler bike.

Another night it was a work ladder and bucket ty had placed next to his truck.

Once we come out in our pajamas, and show him that no, it is not a ravenous coyote out to kill him or a criminal coming to butcher us, he calms down.

I'm so glad this doesn't happen anymore.

He loves grandma and grandpa. I think he might even have a greater love for them, as they spoil him just like grandparents do their grandkids. ha! They give him the best food and attention. He basically splits his time between the households like someone with joint custody.

And...he's religious. I say this because he has the greatest guilt complex I have ever seen an animal possess. If he has done something even remotely wrong you will know it. He cowers to the ground, he covers his eyes, he will army crawl 100ft to me when he knows he is supposed to heel but is in trouble.  One time he was displaying all of his remorseful behaviors.  I could tell he felt awful and even more guilty because he knew I hadn't yet seen the crime scene. An hour or so later I walked out to the trash and saw the dirty deed, he had opened a trash bag and pulled out probably 5-6 containers.  But he had stopped there! I can only imagine the guilty thoughts going through his head as he played with the trash. "Mom is going to kill me. Mom is going to kill me." It's actually laughable when you think about it.

So if you are coming over to our house, we would love to see you! But look out for our humping and guilty complex ridden dog.