IT’S ON – How could either one of us actually let dad sleep when we both want the prime real estate next to his head…

How could that ever happen!!!

Dad, trying to exert his leadership throws his hand up… Spinning through the hand, each dog tries to catapult the other off the bed… Fighting through, Bodi throws Oliver on his back, Dad tries to ignore the fast moving red blurs… The fighting (playfully) gets fierce and the sounds of nipping teeth and playful growls gets intense… Bodi, sensing an opening lunges in and nips Oliver on the ear, the fighting is intense… Realizing that the space is lost, and the bed is soft, Bodi starts to slip into sleep again, as Oliver turns his attention to the man under the covers…And through this all, who is filming???

Instead of breaking the fight up and letting the lump sleep??? ]]> http://www.thegooddogblog.com/2010/06/23/sleeping-with-the-enemy/feed/ 0 http://www.thegooddogblog.com/2010/06/16/and-in-this-corner/ http://www.thegooddogblog.com/2010/06/16/and-in-this-corner/#comments Wed, 16 Jun 2010 22:06:57 +0000 Nancy http://www.thegooddogblog.com/?p=725

Welcome to the famous, doggie wrestling ring (OUR bed).   “Here we have the “Bodacious” Bodi, weighing in at a whopping 62lbs!  And in this corner (my pillow), we have “Little” Oliver, the defending light weight champion, weighing in at 45lbs.  With Bodi having almost 20lbs on little Oli, can Oliver win this match and keep the championship title?… and there they go!  Bodi, pouncing on Oli full force… but Oli is fast and extremely agile… as he slides out from under Bodi, he leaps over the top and has Bodi in his famous “Oli hold” (front leg on the chest).   As Bodi lies there underneath Oli, pinned down, Bodi pulls his famous move on Oil… “The Bodaaaay Mouth Grip”.  There he goes folks, he’s got his whole mouth around Oli’s neck!  Oli is retaliating… snarling and showing all teeth, the Boadster backs off… they jump out of the ring, wrestling, snarling, growling.  It’s getting intense folks!  And there they go… they jump back in the ring, full force!  Jumping all over the ring… now they’re up on their two hind legs!  Now they are punching and grabbing each other, throwing each other to the ground!  who will when this match?  Stay tuned for further coverage of this intense wrestling match!

Whew… the refs (mom and dad) need a little break!!

Oliver and Bodi, caught by the sunbeam

Ah yes… this is such a sweet scene!  After a nice morning walk on the trails with mom and dad… a morning of playing hard… chasing each other throughout the house, running up and down the stairs, (at least a thousand times),  playing tug-a-war with every toy they can possibly get their paws on, and of course, tearing it to pieces.

Sweet... sunbeam dreams... our little angels!

A nice breakfast, followed by a couple of treats… they run back upstairs to catch the sunbeam and now it’s time to rest (so they can have the energy to do it all over again)!

“Dog naps” are definitely underrated!

Yes… this is a “Dog’s Life” indeed!!!

Bodi and Poochie

Here’s our little Bodi-O with one of his Christmas toys, “Poochie”.  Bodi loves Poochie… he likes to carry him around the house, like a little kid with his favorite stuffed animal!

Bodi snuggling with Poochie

Bodi was so cute at Christmas time… he loved opening up his gifts, just like Tucker used to do.  And he was thrilled to have his own toys to play with.  Even though he inherited all of Tuck’s toys, he did not want to play with them, after Tucker passed away.  It was kind of strange… but maybe it was out of respect for Tuck.. I’m not sure on that one.

But as you can clearly see here… Bodi is very fond of Poochie!  He loves to snuggle up with him and I think it is so cute the way he wraps his legs around him… as if he does not want to let him go.

Bodi snuggling with Poochie

I think that Bodi finds great comfort in Poochie… maybe he is thinking about his big brother Tuck… when he gives Poochie that extra hug and squeeze!!

Isn’t he just the cutest?!!!  Love our little Bodi!

Always fun to explain why there is a bra in the living room, or panties in the kitchen, never dull, but always interesting.

We would play with him after he started to show his little “fetish”, we would hook the bra over his head with the cups looking like ear-muffs – all in fun, but I’m sure Tucker was thinking… What the hell, I bring this in here just to lay with it, and they try to embarrass me.

Of course, Bodi picked up the same little fetish, carrying Nancy’s underwear out to the window-seat, just to lay on it and go to sleep. But Bodi will pick up shoes, socks, he’ll walk right by you and grab something out of the hamper and go lay down on top of it, you can’t get mad – all you can do is laugh at him and try to teach him not to do it.

I’m sure other puppies have the same quirks, and other people have to figure out how to explain things to their friends and family members.  Our little companions love to embarrass us in these ways – and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Bodi with his first Christmas tree with us

This was Bodi’s first trip to the Christmas Tree Farm (with us)… a tradition that we had shared with Tucker for 12 blissful years! It was emotional.. to say the least.. as we had always had the Tuckman with us.

As we pulled into the tree farm parking lot… an overwhelming feeling of joy and warmth and happiness as well as sorrow and sadness had filled us both. As the tears began to well up in our eyes, I said to Jim… “I can just see Tucker, running through the Christmas trees.. helping us in our quest to find the perfect tree”!

Our little Bodi was thrilled to be a part of this tradition! He had a blast at the Christmas tree farm.. and didn’t pee on any trees!!

Bodi and Daddy and the Christmas tree

As you can see… Bodi O thoroughly enjoyed posing with his Daddy. So proud of that Christmas tree …that would soon be home, all decorated and filled with presents for Bodi!! Life is good!

What a happy (and very lucky) puppy this is! Bodi is awesome and we feel very fortunate to have him in our lives. He is now a huge part of everything we do.

Mommy and Tucker, Christmas 2008

This time of year… is a time to reflect.. and a time to celebrate the good in our lives. And it is a time to be so very thankful for what we have today… including sweet memories of a loved one lost. Even though that loved one has left this life, their sweet, beautiful soul will remain in our hearts forever!

Weather was perfect, sun was low – good time to detox from the stressful week.

Slipped on the iPod and hit shuffle… The iPod seemed to know the mood and what was needed at the time – slipped into some Diana Krall, Van Morrison (from the Mystic Years), Jonny Lang and even tossed in a thoughtful “Tears” from Rush, 2112. The trails were empty, the music enjoyable without being too much – the detox worked, and the mind seems to be in a slightly better place.

Bodi, as he is growing more and more a part of our life, has learned to be a little less frantic back and forth across the trails and settles in a little closer to the hip, sliding back and forth, front to back as he checks things out, but always paying attention to where we are and getting stern corrections at a lot less.

Tonight he was perfect, kept close, stuck to the trail and even though I had the earphones in he kept the drain on my attention to a minimum… exactly what was needed on this walk. Bodi now knows our rhythm on the walks, whether it is a power walk or a thoughtful stroll, he picks up on the energy and melds into a good walking buddy, it really is the perfect tonic.

Anyone who has a sporting dog and doesn’t take the time to get away from it all and let the dog be himself (after teaching them the guidelines) is really missing out on one of the truly beautiful things in life. To watch one of these dogs in its element, muscles tensing and releasing as they pick up a scent, bodies moving effortlessly through the brush and over the rises, this really is a great gift to have and to enjoy, and I plan to never be without a “V” for as long as I possibly can.