and we're walking

reilley was diagnosed with hip dysplasia and arthritis several months ago.  it’s pretty severe so, along with regular acupuncture and chiropractic treatments, a few weeks ago we instituted daily “family” walks to try to aid him in building some muscle.  i should have put quotes around walks as well since reilley and i are the only ones actually walking – the rest of the hooligans spend their time running amok.  because of the mixture of rogue, fast-moving and very slow-moving, path bombing dogs reilley and i need to stay alert and keep our senses sharp or we're going down.

i’m not sure who hates the walks more, reilley or me, and yet every morning he stands there waiting for me to clip his leash on…because he’s about the truest friend a person could ask for.  here’s a picture of him on the way home from one of his vet appointments:

and here' some short video of a "calmer" part of a walk...

breaking 'em in

i'm contractually obligated by carly to let you know when she does something good - today she once again proved herself to be the most welcoming colella...

360°

it’s taken almost a full year but we’ve finally come full circle.  last year when we announced that we needed to find a home for violet we promised we would give another dog a home so we didn’t leave any footprint.  we remained in limbo until violet found a home and now that she has we’re no longer in limbo.  meet zig:

he’s the newest colella and he’s a pretty superb addition.  he’s a puppy mill reject who was dumped in a kill shelter and taken in by a local rescue.  he’s missing most of his front right arm which apparently in “mill” language means he’s of no use.  it seems like the arm (or lack thereof) turned out fortuitous for zig as it provided a ticket out of the damn mill. 

he’s probably about 9 months old and other than needing to gain some weight he’s in good health.  we’ve got some unique challenges with him that we’re learning about since he’s our first puppy mill dog.  right now if we can get him to sleep during the night we’ll be happy – but he remains fantastic whether he allows us to sleep or not.

as always dave & i were both so impressed with how the rest of the dogs reacted.  they really are an amazing pack and haven’t given him a bit of trouble.  no one’s really befriended him yet but each day they’ve warmed up a little more. 

when dave & i met i had two three-legged dogs so it seems we’ve come full circle in more ways than one.  we’ve had missing legs, seizure disorders, deafness and blindness and now we’re kicking it old school. 

where's the mute button?

plug your ears people cause you about to get "specked"

super fuzz

this video cracks me up for two reasons: (1) watson & jewel are the two slowest moving dogs we have and when they play it looks like it's in slow motion (it can actually be sleep inducing) and (2) because everyone else was outside it seems like jewel decided to use this alone time with watson to work on some new moves, although she remains true to the good ole "grab a back leg" move. 

welcoming committee

if i were so inclined i could write a blog entitled “what carly did wrong” and literally have enough material to post daily.  i’d use this photo as the banner…

having said that i feel i should also tell you that i adore the bejinkles out of her…as bad as she is she is exactly equally as fantastic.  among her two most redeeming qualities are she’s about the sweetest thing going on four legs and she is the most amazing welcome wagon president our family could have.  this is some footage of slater’s first day here, and while everyone else wasn’t sure of him (and vice versa), carly got right in there to make him feel right at home (which meant we had to give her a pardon on the bad shit she did that day).

indian summer

it's been so beautiful here in nashville the past few weeks.  i love this time of year when we can leave all the doors of the house open and enjoy the outside.  the dogs have been partaking in the enjoyment aplenty.  here's watson and carly trying to get the best of fletcher but as he proves you can't take a good guy down.  

you also get a small taste of jewel doing what jewel does best - she likes to bark a good bit of her day away (not so surprising she was returned to the shelter twice before we adopted her).

calm before the storm

this is the prelude to the eruption of crazy that ensues when these two "play" (it quite literally makes the house shake)...but the prelude, ah the prelude, is lovely.

bring on the night

last night was the first not unbearably hot evening we've had here in quite a while so we attempted to enjoy some peace & quiet on the patio...

sometimes our ideas do not at all intersect with the dogs' ideas.

mr. loquacious

dear gravy is benny talkative, which is ironic since he can't hear a blessed thing, and i use the word talkative because it really does seem like he's just chattering away.  for some reason his mutterings ring as less annoying than just all-out barking but it does have a way of breaking you down eventually. 

i gotta give it up to violet - i would have let him have the bone just to shut him up.