The Good Dog Blog

“Daddy… I love you!” … but don’t let that get out!

Tuckie enjoyed his birthday celebration! He got to open gifts (I know… he’s very spoiled)! Bodi actually just sat and watched Tuck open his gifts. Much to our surprise… he didn’t try to “help” him!

Happy Birthday, Tuckie!! We love you honey!!! Our special little guy is 12 years old today! Gosh… how time really does fly! Tucker… you are the puppy love of our lives! The last 12 years with you have been awesome! Have a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Love, Mom & Dad

Sunlight streams through window pane unto a spot on the floor…

then I remember, it’s where you used to lie, but now you are no more.

Our feet walk down a hall of carpet, and muteed echoes sound….

then I remember, it’s where your paws would joyously abound.

A voice is heard along the road, and up beyond the hill,

then I remember it can’t be yours….

your golden voice is still.

But I’ll take that vacant spot of floor and empty muted hall…

and lay them with the absent voice and unused dish along the wall.

I’ll wrap these treasured memorials in a blanket of my love…

and keep them for my best friend…

until we meet above.

Author Unknown

This is the cutest pic! Tuck’s good friends Sterling and Gracie, both decided to help their parents do the dishes! Ha! At least Sterling decided to use the dish brush… instead of licking every dish clean!

And just look at Gracie Girl’s expression! She is the cutest!

What do you think Gracie is saying here?! “Use the brush, Sterling… use the brush!” “Don’t lick all of the dishes… mommy & daddy might get mad”!! “Daddy… I told him to use the brush…!”

… “I used the brush mom & dad… honest!… I didn’t lick one dish!”

Oh Sterling… do you think that mom & dad believe that?

You guys are the best!!

We have some very sad news… one of Tucker’s long time friends (girlfriend too), Jessica, passed away on Thursday. She lost the battle with bone cancer… but she had put up a pretty good fight. She was tough… and according to her parents… she never complained!

This was very hard for us all! Jessica was the sweetest Rottweiler we had ever met! She and Tucker had been friends for 8 years. They shared many walks together out on the trails.

We took Tucker over to see Jessica a couple of weeks ago… and we are so glad that they got to see each other one last time.

My heart goes out to Jessica’s parents, (and our very dear friends), Matt & Patti. They had had a very special relationship with Jessica… as Jim & I have had with Tucker over the years. Jessica was their child.. as Tucker (and now Bodi too) is ours.

I feel their pain… as it hits so close to home. I can honestly say… I cried so much Friday night, after receiving the news from Patti & Matt. And thought about Jess this whole weekend.. and felt an emptiness in my heart.

We loved Jessica and she will always be in our hearts! She touched us all in her own, very special way. She was beautiful, sweet, kind, loving as well as strong and protective of her family and friends. We shall miss you Jess!!

Patti & Matt… we love you guys and we are here for you!

Love,

Jim, Nancy, Tucker & Bodi

Tucker and Bodi have some really cool, doggie friends! We like to take them to the park to play with their buddies. Tucker… is the social one! He LOVES to see everybody… dogs and people. He loves his friends… and it brings us so much joy to see how happy he is when he gets to see his buddies.

Bodi on the other hand… likes to see the other dogs.. but he is more interested in hunting. Although, if he gets the opportunity, he does enjoy running and playing with the other dogs (which is really good for him to burn off that energy). Sometimes he plays a little rough (we’re working on this). He barks when he’s running with the other dogs and it just sounds obnoxious (and he does this even when he is playing by himself in the backyard).. he’s a duffus!  One time we were at the park, and Bodi was running and barking (by himself), and their friend Boomer (who is a beautiful, Golden Retriever) ran alongside him and let out a few big barks… as if he were telling Bodi to, “Shut Up Already”! And he did shut up! It was really funny… and kind of cool!

Love ya Bodi! You are a good boy… really! Just a duffus at times…

Here is a pic of Sterling (on the right) and Gracie (on the left). Two beautiful, sweet Weimaraners, who are very lucky to have such great parents! As you can see from the pic, they are very spoiled! And also very loved.

Tuck loves these guys! Especially Gracie (sorry Sterling)! Gracie girl loves to give kisses to Tuck. And even though he “acts” like he doesn’t want her to do it… we know the truth.. He loves it!

So.. for the most part, all of the dogs at the park do get along, and it’s been really good for Tuck & Bodi to socialize with these guys. Bodi, especially! We are thankful for all of our doggie friends! Hope to hear from them all on this post!

We have a lot of Tucker’s and Bodi’s friends to talk about.. next post!   And we would like to welcome them all to join,   TheGoodDogBlog!

Have a great day guys! Take care!

Nancy

Here we are coming up on 3 months with the BodMeister and we must say that we are not too surprised with how things are coming out.

Bodi is fitting in to our family just about as perfectly as he possibly can, he is different from Tucker in so many ways, and exactly the same in ways that would surprise you.

He still goes full-bore at everything he does, dives in with both… uh… make that four feet, and makes every day an adventure. We take him for walks and once he gets off leash he hunts, and hunts, and hunts… Birds, Bunnies, Lizards, Butterflies, you name it and he hunts it, but now he actually hears us when we call him back, even when hunting.

Bodi and Tucker are becoming great friends, they cover each others backs when they are out with other dogs, each one makes sure to see that everything is ok when the other gets in trouble. They sleep next to each other, actually touching at times. Bodi waits for Tucker to finish his dinner before he slides in and cleans his bowl up. Bodi lets Tucker pick up a toy before, yes actually before he grabs it out of Tuckers mouth. He lets us help Tuck up on the bed before he jumps up and stakes out his spot.

We can leave both Tucker and Bodi alone when we leave the house now, Tucker crashes out on the sofa and Bodi grabs his spot on the window seat just so he can keep an eye on everything and be the first one to see us when we come home.

Our nephew came up from San Diego and Tucker, remembering Taylor was as excited as can be, and Bodi took to him like a long lost friend, tackling him and licking his face just to make sure that he doesn’t forget what Bodi love is all about. Our niece came over to take care of both of the boys while Nancy and I were out of town, and other than a little barking at first, just to let her know that he noticed her, Bodi was as happy as could be and took her out to watch him while he did his thing out there. Bodi believes that he is a great guard dog, and we let him keep an eye on things in the neighborhood, just for kicks.

The truth is, we love this guy (still has about 8 pounds to come off before we can call him, little guy), he hugs us, he licks our faces, he follows us around and makes sure that he is a part of everything we do. We love everything about him, we wouldn’t trade a bit of his “quirks” away, we love how much he has fit into our lives, and we make sure to let him know how much we love him too.

… “Okay Bodi… where’s my other shoe?”… That’s what you hear around our house… quite often!

The little guy loves to take our shoes and “relocate” them in different areas throughout the house.

I know this is not right for me to say this… but it really is cute! Luckily, he doesn’t chew them or destroy them. He just picks them up at random… whenever they happen to “be in his path”. I’m sure he feels compelled to grab hold, and teach them a lesson for being in his way. But, like I said, he doesn’t want to “hurt” them… only remove them from their normal place.

So how do we break this funky, little habit he has? Mmmm… not sure yet. We keep telling him, “No… those are not toys… nothing for you to play with”. Does it work? Eh… sometimes. Only for a day or two, and then come to find, that yet another shoe is missing!

We have learned that Bodi really isn’t good at hiding things though (lucky for us)! Just the other day… I found Jim’s “other” slipper, lying next to Bodi, while he lay asleep on the window seat in the sunbeam, in the living room. He lays there, looking so cute and innocent… how could one possibly get mad at him?

I guess it is just one of the “quirky” little things that our new, four legged kid has brought to the table (not literally, luckily)! All in all… he’s a great addition to this household! And we love him very much! Even right now, at this very moment… while I am sitting here at my desk… with only one shoe on. Where, oh where could that other shoe be?! “Bodi”!!!

Shortly after we got Tucker, and finished all of the shots, we started taking him out for walks on the trails, he has always gotten a big kick out of being out away from everything and just doing his little hunting thing.

Of course now that we have Bodi we have taken to getting him out on the trails as well, and he is loving every minute of it.

Today I took the two boys out to the trails that used to be our old stomping grounds with Tucker and they both had a great time. It’s a long trail with some great hunting brush, the stuff that Bodi lives for, but with some good strolling sections that Tucker has taken to enjoying more and more.

When we first got Bodi he was a little crazy about hunting, been cooped up to long in a backyard and his listening wasn’t really on par with what we expected, when he got in the hunt he blocked everything else out and just went nuts. Now that we have had a chance to work with him and show that we expect him to pay attention, things have become much better. We still let him get his hunting instincts going, but now he pays attention to where we are and will cut the hunt off to catch up with the pack as it keeps moving.

There really is nothing like watching sporting dogs (which I believe to be the most beautiful dogs in the world – no bias here) as they move through open country or cruise through the brush, hunting through the woods, sliding across the snow – the sleek movement and easy gate – the way they prance… there isn’t anything that can beat that in all the world of canines.

So after a good walk today I am sitting here writing my post… as the two little guys are crashed out on the sofa behind me, of course making it tough for me to sit back and relax, but, hey – what can you say, they run the house, and always have.