Out of the Mud and into the Furr

I thought I'd introduce some of our household today.

We have The Boys (our teenaged offspring and a nephew) and The Kids (our dogs).  We're lab lovers and rescue lovers.  So our current pack consists of:

Madeline Anastasia (because her initials had to spell out MAN in order to offset any possibility of estrogen overtaking the testosterone in the house!) - a 6 yr old yellow Lab mix.

Princess Maddie, aka Maddie Moo, Moo Moo

At 4 months old she developed a growth in her lower jaw that was diagnosed as cancer and we were told she'd be gone within the next couple of months.  Six years later, she's still with us and has some teeth that grew in crooked (Snaggle Teeth) but we think she's beautiful, especially when she smiles!

Oliver Twist - a 4 yr old black Lab Beagle mix.

Oliver, aka Ollie, Wallie, Ollie Pops

Oliver started out life being called Malcolm but was quickly renamed when he would pick up his food dish after being fed and walk around with it very reminiscent of Oliver Twist.  He has half a tail.  Out of all of the litter mates that I saw when I picked him out only one of them had a full tail (I'm always drawn to the underdogs).  We were told his mom was a pure bred black Lab and, after examining him, our vet determined his dad was probably a Beagle because the tail defect is typical of that breed.  I'm sorry to report that Oliver has a problem.  He's a tennis ball junkie!  I don't let him bring them into the house because they get so slobbery and gross so he'll sit at the back door looking longingly at them on the deck.  He needs help.

Then there's Franklin:

Franklin, aka Frankie, Franklinstein, Froo Froo, Yittlest Putch, Spankie

Frankie's not a Lab.  He's a 2 yr old long haired Chihuahua with a Rottweiler's ego, a cat's voice and mismatched eyes.  He came part and parcel with my nephew when he moved in with us and we've become very attached to them both.  The first time he visited he was dealing with a Jesus complex.  I guess he'd never seen a pool before and didn't realize it wasn't a solid surface so he walked right in.  After I fished him out he shook off and walked back in again.  I think that's when he realized that only Jesus can walk on water.  Not Chihuahuas.  We've never had tiny dogs so it's been very amusing watching the big dogs interacting with him.  Frank and Oliver have their daily wrestle where Oliver will have Frank's whole head in his mouth (it is the same size as a tennis ball!) then lay down to let Frank jump all over him.  Who needs TV when there are dogs in the house!  =D

Score one for the Chihuahua!