Thursday, January 13, 2011

Puppy Antics

It has been over 7 years since we last had a puppy in our house.  Back then it was the fall of 2003 and Lex - our current senior citizen was a loud and brash puppy willing to do just about anything to get attention.  Fortunately for Lex the older dog back then was Bailey who was the most gentle, nuturing dog I have every known.  Bailey was OK with Lex crawling all over him and chewing on his ears until the bleed.

Today Lex is that older dog to Finnegan and unfortunately Lex is a grouchy "old man" kind of dog who really doesn't appreciate puppy antics.  In some ways that makes the puppy antics that Finnegan plays even that much funnier.  For every action Finnegan takes he causes a reaction in Lex.  If Finn is trying to bite Lex's paw, Lex has to growl and move his paw away as fast as he can.  If Finn wants to try and curl up next to Lex on the dog bed or the couch, Lex has to get up and run away to some place that Finn isn't.  It is actually one of the most hilarious things that you could possible watch.




The best part is when they start barking at one another.  Lex will be growling at Finn (all the while his tail is wagging), and then Finn will erupt into this cacophony of sound.  He has one of the highest pitched puppy barks I have heard.  They will make a chorus of barks, with first Lex barking and then Finn barking and then back to Lex.  It is funny enough that we really don't need to use the television for entertainment, we have built in entertainment with the 2 dogs.



Of course Lex isn't involved in all the antics that Finn gets up to.  Finn like to climb up as high as he can on the sofa and then stand there perched looking down deciding if he is going to jump.  He has only jumped once but now that he has finally come up with the courage to do that I think it might become a routine.

Finnegan has one of the more unique personalities I have experienced in a dog.  I am used to the wild and crazy playfulness of Labrador Retrievers and though Finn can exhibit that quality a good percentage of the time, he also has a very reserved and contemplative side to him.  Often he will just sit and look at what is going on.  I think there are a ton of thoughts racing through his head as he tries to figure out the entire world around him.



Finn also loves to be snuggled - which is quite different from Lex.  It has only been since Bailey died last July that Lex has allowed himself to be snuggled at all - but it can only be on his terms.  He has to walk up to you and want to be snuggled.  If you approach him, forget about it - he is so out of there.  Finn is the exact opposite.  Not only does he love to come to you, he loves when you pick him up and snuggle him and give him lots of loving.

I have developed a nightly routing with Finn regarding his snuggling.  After Zack is in bed, I will come back downstairs and sit on the couch and watch TV.  When I do that Finn will normal get on the other end of the couch.  Over a period of 30 minutes or so, he will slowly migrate from his end of the couch to mine.  Before you know it, he is right next to me with his head propped on my leg sleeping soundly.  Even as I fidget or move he figures out some way to keep that head of his right on my leg!

Our house if now often filled with lots of puppy antics and hijinx.  Though it is sometimes hard work to keep track of Finnegan and keep him from getting into serious trouble, it is very worth it!

No much else to report for us other than the fact that we are pretty busy these days.  Yesterday - Wednesday involved a ton of work and bunch of running around.  But we had a key accomplishment out of the day in the fact that I got Nancy to the audiologist and she got new hearing aids.  Now she can actually hear what Zack and I are saying to her!  Yippee.  Zack is doing better with his anxiety but we still have a ways to go to get him back to where he was prior to winter break.  It is now Thursday morning as I finish this post and we are looking forward to another busy but good day!

Have a great day!

Thanks and peace to all! ~J.

FYSRD!

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