Quirky Dogs....

Allow me to introduce two members of our family; the dogs! Max is a 9 year old yellow lab (pound puppy) and Cleo (short for Cleopatra) is a 10 year old dachshund, AKA The wiener. My husband will tell you he hates the wiener but he is the first to love on her when she wants a belly scratched. She was Callie’s dog before Nick and I married so I don’t figure we’ll be getting rid of her any time soon. Cleo runs the dog house. Max is sweet and quiet. He almost never barks and gets very nervous when Cleo barks… and she barks at EVERYTHING. He’ll grab his toy and chew on it like there is no tomorrow when she gets started. We call his toy the booboo and we figure he’s dreaming of that booboo being the wiener and that he’d love to chew the squeaker out of her!
We recently bought Max a new bed. He was skeptical; being the quirky lab he is and didn’t jump right on. Cleo, however, takes full advantage of the new big bed and makes herself right at home. Max looks at her, wonders why she’s there, finally resolves himself to the fact that she’s taken over, and lies on the floor. When I force the wiener off the bed, Max finally takes it. Then Cleo decides he can share. They constantly make me laugh.
Max has other quirky traits too. He will do things when we’re away that he would never dream of doing if we were here with him. I think it’s his way of rebelling against our absence. Once when Nick was deployed last time (in Texas) I was at work one day, and my college aged son was visiting. I had college boy (J.D.) meet me at my office to take him to lunch. When we were having lunch, I asked him if he had let the dogs out before he left the house. He said yes, because I think Max has heartburn. I asked, why in the world would you think Max has heartburn? He said because he took a bottle of Tums to his bed. This is a true example of how Max is when he needs attention. He had pulled the bottle of Tums off of Nick’s bedside table and just placed it on his bed. Another time when I was working a lot, Max took one of my slippers and hid it under his bed. You gotta love a dog with personality!