Hi blogging world. Meet Maxie. Maxie is our dog that just returned from spending 5 years with her grandparents. We had Maxie for 5 years first. She is really Mike's dog (who wanted one for his birthday in our pre-child days), but we both adored her. But when the big girls turned 1 and we moved into a new house, we just couldn't deal with her peeing everywhere so she went to live with Mike's parents. They were just about to turn her back over to us when we got pregnant with the second set of twins. No way were we taking her back at that point. So here we are again. The little girls are 3, and Maxie has returned. Somebody (Ashley I think) gave her a teacup in this picture. She looks amused, doesn't she?
I'm not a dog person. I'm a cat person. And since I had kids I'm not a pet person at all. Let's face it - I have enough to take care of. At the same time I think pets are great for kids. So I'm happy she's back. She's a sweet dog. She gets a little nervous around the kids and snaps here and there. I could do without her pooping all over my backyard. That's the worst part of it. But the kids are really happy. Maxie comes to visit us all the time, but the day she came to stay, the kids acted differently around her. Suddenly she was THEIR dog. They are all getting used to each other and adjusting.
Saturday they even threw a dog party for her. See all the dogs hanging from our balcony and the beads strung across the railings? (By the way, I suppose our railing looks quite unusual. We had that built because I couldn't stop horrid thoughts of my children hurling themselves over the balcony. I forget it's there and how ugly it looks, but I sure do sleep better at night!)
They didn't understand why Maxie didn't want to rush upstairs for the party. They put this fabric down as a stage for her to do tricks. I had to force Maxie up there who was definitely worried about what they were going to do to her. I had to convince the kids to just love on her and forego the 3 tricks she knows - sit, lay down, and shake. We should put her in show business!
Ashley calls her "boy" all the time. "Come here, boy!" "Good job, boy!" Poor girl - people have been confusing her gender ever since she went to live with the grandparents, pretty much because Mike's dad insists on calling her Max.
And they all think every move she makes is funny, especially the little girls. "Awww - she's laying down!" "Aww - she's licking me!" They laugh at everything. It's cute.
Anyway, so we have a pet. I'm trying to destress my life but we now have a dog. At least she's potty trained and not chewing up furniture! She's 10 years old already. Hopefully she'll stick around a while.
We have a dog. We got her pre-kids and she was spoiled rotten. The poor girl has had to deal with quite a demotion since the crew arrived. The adore her, but they bug her, and never leave her alone, and pull her tail, and brush her fur the wrong way and yank on her ears... You get the idea.
ReplyDeleteShe is a great dog and puts up with all of this abuse-- I mean love, but yes, she is one more thing to deal with. We have enough to deal with in human beings, why do we need dogs? My husband used to come home and ask if I fed Stella (our dog)(and no, I never had), but one day I had finally had it and snapped, "No, but all five of your kids had three healthy meals each. You're welcome!" He got the idea and now just feeds her when he gets home.
I think it's good for kids to grow up with a pet and I do love our dog. So glad your girls are so excited to have her. I loved the dog party they had for her! What little cuties! (and when I saw your railing, I thought that it was great that it was tall enough to keep your girls safe and you sane)
I love the dog party! So thoughtful and creative! I understand about the extra work pets give us. We have a cat, which is pretty easy going, but I still have to clean up after him in my "free time". :)
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