Just Say Julie

I decided to post a quick followup to the Elephant story I posted earlier today.  When I got home, I was able to snap some pictures of Elephant in his current state.   Before Here is what Elephant looked like in happier days before he encountered the rough life of living with Maverick. (This is Elephant the 2nd.)  After Here is what Elephant looks like now.  Such a stark comparison of the life one could lead.

When I was preparing to bring Maverick home as a 7 week old puppy, I purchased a couple of stuffed animals for him to play with. I thought Mav would love them and it was cute because Mav would try to get both Bear and Duckie in his mouth at the same time. However, I quickly learned that stuffed toys do not last long with my dog. Bear made it a couple of weeks and we went through 3 Duckies in the first couple of months. Since then, I have avoided giving Maverick stuffed toys because I hated cleaning stuffing up after the dog demolished the insides of the toy. About a year ago, a friend of mine gave me two stuffed elephant dog toys. One for Maverick and one for the yet to be determined baby. I gave Maverick his elephant and he quickly removed the stuffing and the squeaker (I think he hates the squeakers) and I set about the task of cleaning up after him. I was waiting for him to discard the body of Elephant so he could be disposed of properly. Only Maverick wouldn't give up Elepha...

My house is in utter chaos right now.  I have been saying since May that we needed to start clearing out the office to make way for Jackson.  Thanks to conflicting schedules and constant activity, we haven't gotten around to that until now.  So here we are 9 days away from my due date boxing stuff up for storage and rearranging furniture to make room for a crib, dresser, and glider.  Part of this move means relocating Maverick's "home" to other portions of the house. Up to this point, Maverick had a corner of the office where his bed and bowls were located.  A space to call his own.  While we are away from the house, he would hang out in there behind a baby gate and nap all day.  Since the office is now going to be the nursery, we couldn't leave him in there.  A few nights ago we moved his bed into our room at night so he could sleep in there with us.  This transition was fairly easy since he was already used to sleeping in the room with me...

I got this in an email today and I thought it was cute.  Plus, I could see Maverick writing a list just like this one. Dear Santa, I have been a very good dog this year (except that one time with the squirrel).  I will not chase the squirrel again and I promise to be good!  For Christmas I would like to have: a new ball treats a new shirt for when it is cold treats a new chew bone or antler treats a new soft cuddly toy treats a spiffy new collar treats a nice soft bed treats new food and water bowls treats ...and maybe some yummy treats. Have a good trip in the sleigh and I promise not to chase Rudolph! Sincerely, The Dog

I am a well trained human in the eyes of my dog. I let him on the furniture (because he is calm when chewing on a bone on the couch next to me) and I let him sleep with me (because I like have his warm little body in the bed). One might say that Maverick is in charge in this house. Recently Mav has been in the bed with me if he is in the room with me at night rather than sleeping in his own bed on the floor. I had convinced myself that he couldn't jump up on the bed because he couldn't get the traction he needed to get the running start to make it up on the bed. Well, last night my sweet boy decided to prove me wrong. I climbed in bed last night preparing to settle in for the evening. I was going to read a bit and then lights out. Well, I decided Mav needed to sleep in his bed so I didn't help him up on to my bed. Apparently Maverick would have nothing of that. Next thing I know he had backed up a bit and was bounding up the side of the bed. Had I not be sitting ...

No dish towel is safe in my house. If I try to hang one from the oven handle or dishwasher handle, it is on the floor in ten minutes. That is if Maverick doesn't decide to run around the house with it. As soon as it gets it in his mouth and I realize what he is up to, off he goes. Now that the boxes are out of the dining room I don't have a way to block him in so instead I have to find another location to corner him. His path goes something like this. He hops up on the love seat, across to the couch, and then hits the ottoman before diving off to land in the foyer and dash through the kitchen and around the dining room table. Somehow I just end up standing there turning in a circle until either he drops the contraband or I get him in between the couch and love seat. Tonight he got the dish towel and once he finally dropped, he ran to the couch and grabbed the remote instead (my dog loves electronics). What do I do? Grab a treat and head to the back door knowing that h...

Just when I decided to write about my playful pup, he does not disappoint. Since moving into the new house, I have been allowing Maverick to sleep in the room with me. He has a bed in the corner which works out well since he can't jump up on to the my bed because it is too high. So when I put him in his room Thursday night so I could get ready for bed, you would have thought I was abusing the pup based on the noises coming from his room. Of course I let him in the room with me once I was heading to bed and, since I am the well trained human that I am, put him up on the bed so he could snuggle with me. Needless to say Mav doesn't quite understand the concept of sleeping in a bit. At 6:15 the next morning, I felt a cold wet nose on my face. Now I am one of these lucky people who has a flexible work schedule so waking up at 6:15 is not something I that I prefer to do. So I went into a full belly rub attack hoping that would calm P-dog down and he would return to dreamland ...

I had to make a quick trip to Oklahoma City this week for work. Normally when I am traveling I make observations about my fellow travelers and comment on any mishaps that might befall me along the way. However, I miraculously had no mishaps and my fellow travelers didn't provide me with any new material to comment on. This trip did afford me the opportunity to catch up on some reading. You see I tend to do my best reading on airplanes. I joined a book club a few weeks ago and my first reading assignment was Marley and Me by John Grogan. Now I had heard a little about this book but never really thought to read it. But with the movie coming out, the book has regained popularity. Being a proud dog owner and lover, I realized that this was a must read. So I spent my flights to and from OKC devouring this book. I must say that I laughed out loud many times as I read Marley's antics and related them to tales of my own beloved pup. I am sure my row mates were confused by my...

Maverick did pretty well staying home alone with free reign today. He greeted me at the door with his tail a-waggin'. That was a vast improvement over the pitiful bays he let out as I was leaving this morning. He is used to me leaving but not when he can watch me leave. I did, however, have to clean up a couple of accidents. That was surprising because he can easily make it through the day without an accident in the kitchen. I think once he gets used to being able to roam he will be better though. My baby is growing up!