Kelly's Korner blog does a "Show Us Your Life" post every Friday, and they're always fun to look at, but I usually don't participate. Until today! Of course I had to jump on the opportunity to talk about my baby puppies some more. :)
This is Diesel, as many of you know. He was my first baby. Before him, I would've considered myself a dog person, but not as whole-heartedly as I do now. Here's his story.
The year before Adam and I got married, I moved to Wichita from Manhattan, where I'd been attending K-State. I rented a little studio apartment because I wanted to live by myself after I'd just gotten done rooming with 4 other girls in college. It was lonely! I think I had only been living there a few days because it was around my birthday - the end of May, the end of my sophomore year in college. So I had just finished up school for the year and moved to Wichita. I was at my apartment one evening, showering, eating, who knows what, and I got a knock at the front door. I remember having wet hair. Random. Anyway, it wasn't quite my birthday, so I opened the door, and when it was Adam, I was like hey, come in. Well, instead of coming in, he brought his hand (which had been behind his back) out and nestled in his palm was the tiniest little furry dog I'd ever seen.
He was SO soft and SO cute. He weighed less than a pound, so I had to feed him off of flat surfaces and soften his food with warm water. We put some of my old t-shirts in a crate so that he would get used to my smell, but he'd escape through the tiny holes in the crate and I wouldn't be able to find him. He would scream when I would hold him, like he hated me. I lived on the 3rd floor of my apartment building, so I had to carry him downstairs, past the pool, across the parking lot to potty, even in the middle of the night.
He finally warmed up to me, started sleeping in my bed, graduated to a real dog dish, and the day he mastered the stairs was colossal! He's moved with me from that tiny apartment to my and Adam's first house after we were married, and now to our home we live in now. He's the perfect little dog and I love him so much! He's 4 and a half and I keep wishing he would stop aging because I need him to be around forever!
Next up is the big guy, Axl.
Adam got the idea in his head soon after we were married that he wanted a Doberman. I think there had been a parent at the school he was student teaching at that had one and he loved the look of him. My friend Jacque had recently gotten a Doberman, so we got in touch with the breeder she'd used, and it turned out they'd had a litter at the end of May. I believe it was the end of June (we were married in the beginning of June) that we went out to Rose Hill to visit the Doberman puppies. They were SO cute! They were black and had gigantic paws and big floppy ears. We took Diesel with us to see how he would get along with them, I think I had an idea that he would choose one to love and that would be the one we'd take home with us.
Diesel HATED them all. He would freak out when we would force him to be close to them. So that plan failed. The puppies were still too young to be taken from their mama, so we came back a few weeks later to pick out our new puppy. We were playing with the ones that were left, and the one that ended up being our Axl kept putting both his paws around my neck when I would hold him. I knew that was going to be my baby. So we paid, signed the papers, and took our baby home.
He SCREAMED the entire car ride home. We were even stopped by an impossibly long train, and he just wouldn't shut up. Wow, was he annoying. Come to think of it, he still is.
We had a hard time naming Axl. I believe he was Oscar, Mac, and Radar at different times.
Axl was smaller than Diesel for a very, very short amount of time. During that time, Diesel wanted nothing to do with him, and was so mean to him. He would snap at Axl at the drop of a hat. Axl was the most awkward teenager dog ever. He had the longest legs, hugest paws, and floppiest ears. Cropping his ears was the hugest ordeal ever and made me question if I'd ever get another Doberman.
When people are around, Axl is the most annoying dog ever. I'll admit it.
But when it's just us, I couldn't ask for a more cuddly, cute, big hunk o' dog to use as a pillow or to cuddle with when I'm having a bad day. He likes to give kisses on the mouth, and his favorite thing is chasing squirrels. Our life wouldn't be complete without him!
They love each other now. See? :)
