These three have a very special place in my heart. They are my parents dogs yes all three of them : ) I will start with Lucy, who just celebrated her 13th Birthday! Miss Lucy came to us when she was just a puppy, when one of our neighbors decided they couldn't keep her anymore do to there growing family. I have a vivid memory of my family and my neighbor all standing in the the kitchen and my mom with this little beagle puppy in her arms when the little furball fell asleep we all knew she wasn't leaving. The next 13 years of her life where spent torturing our German shepherd (radical), steeling food from the table or right out of your hand and following her nose where ever it took her even when it was to the car dealer ship down the street or Carls Jr. around the corner. For a beagle she was very eager to learn (for food anyway) and by the age of 4 knew just about every trick in the book even getting her picture in the news paper once for knowing how to answer the phone on command. Now a days its a little harder for her to get around (although I hear she still has her zoomies moments) its a little harder for her to hear and see and smell but given the opportunity she will still steal food off the table and follow her nose down the street.
Rufus (AKA The Big Dog) came to us a few months after the passing of our first Dog Radical, from the Orange County Animal Shelter. The poor guy had been picked up from the streets of L.A. and had been in the L.A. Shelter for so long till the O.C. Shelter picked him up on one of his last days. When we adopted him they told us he was about a year or so old. They also mentioned he had some issues with men but seemed to get along fine with the men in our family so he came home with us. But it wasn't long before his true self came out and we realized his aggression toward not just men but other dogs as well was in the red zone. He then became my personal project. I tried my very best to teach him that nothing would ever hurt him as long as I was around. This brought us very close and he became "my boy" (as still is). But even with all my good intentions Rufus was beyond my experience, he had to be sent to a professional trainer for 8 weeks. When he came back he was truly an better dog. He grew to love walks on the beach where he could play in the water and with other dogs. While he still has some issues its hard to look past that scruffy face with his big eye brows and truly be upset with him for long.
And then there is Jack. Who wasn't planned (but then again I don't think any of our dogs were) he was just a little black and white Chihuahua puppy at a pet store, but when you held him he literally held back and it was very hard for any of us to say no. Jack is your typical Chihuahua, he's needy, bouncy, loves to cuddle, will sleep all day under the covers with you if your sick, and has a personal vendetta with the mail man and the mail. All 6 pounds of him can tell 100+ pound rufus what to do with just a look, he really has no concept of his size. Both my parents are guilty of babying him (not that there is anything wrong with that ; )) my mom will carry him around in her bathrobe in the morning so she can hold him and sweep at the same time and my dad carries him around in the crook of his arm while Jack lays on his back like a baby. Little Jack loves his Lucy though he will sit and clean her ears and her eyes, loves to sleep on top of her in his eyes she can do no wrong.
