Bodi - Enjoying his new toy

Oli - Having a blast his first Christmas with us!

Beautiful Bodi!

Oliver - Waiting for that Christmas treat!

Bodi - Waiting for the Christmas treat from Mommy!

Oli - resting with Daddy and his new toy!

Bodi - Loving his new toy!

The Boys are beat after opening ALL of their gifts!

I still remember the first time that we gave Tucker a Bully Stick – we had taken him to a show about an hour away from home, he spent the day being a great boy, showing beautifully and just being a love. We saw the Bully Sticks that were for sale at the show and decided to buy him one for the ride home.  At that time he rode in his crate on long drives, and so he settled into the crate, having no idea what we were going to give him.

As you can guess, the ride home was filled with the sounds of Tuck moaning and groaning as he got to know what a Bully Stick was.  Nancy and I were laughing as we listened to him eat away at that treat and we have never forgotten the sound of Tucker and his first Bully treat. The first Bully Stick lasted quite a few days, but as he figured out the way to devour them, they lasted no more than an hour.

This was the first Bully Stick that we had given Oliver, and after taking his treat off to a safe location he spent a few hours enjoying the stick, while always keeping an eye on Bodi to make sure that he kept his distance.

Bodi has had the pleasure of the treats before, and being Bodi, he knows he can dust one in about half an hour, and then he will spend the rest of the time that (either Tucker) or Oliver finishes eating their treats walking around at a distance staring at the treat to see if it ever leaves the watchful eyes of its owner. Of course, we always keep an eye on Bodi as well to make sure that he understands that he must allow the owner to finish his own treat.

So, half the fun of giving the Bully Stick is watching the complete enjoyment of the boys as they finish them off, and the other half, is the calm that settles in as they get lost in their treats and we enjoy a nice afternoon outdoors.

Long live the Bully Stick…

I know that the boys love each other, there are times that they show that, but at times, especially since the snake bite, things can get tense, and sometimes there is even an explosion or two to deal with.

We’ve had to separate the two on occasion as Bodi uses his size and strength to take away Oliver’s speed.  Luckily most of it has just been posturing as it sounds much worse then it turns out to be in the end, but we still worry.

Ever since the Rattlesnake episode Bodi has been, how do you say, a little off.  He gets quite a bit more tense with Oliver, and us at times, he seems to be more desperate about food, he just seems a little different… like I said, a little off.

Oliver has had more moments then usual where Bodi’s hair goes up and the whites of the eyes start to show.  Oliver has taken to playing by himself more, going into other rooms to find the sunbeam when Bodi is near, actually coming upstairs to sleep in the spare bedroom while I’m working rather then stay down in the living room with Bodi – whereas he was always hyper playful with Bodi and would crawl up onto Bodi to crash out in the sunbeam before the incident.

I feel sorry for both of them at times, Bodi because obviously something is going on in his head, and Oliver, because he has had to change his style to keep out of Bodi’s line of fire when things happen. We work with them all the time, walk them together, they sleep with us in the same bed – but there usually seems to be a little coldness in the air that just pops up in an instant… weird.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all Bodi, Oliver can still be a pain in the butt, stepping in front of Bodi to get love first, or to get out the door, or even food (which can really be dangerous since Bodi outweighs him by 15 lbs.), but Oliver has a tremendous amount of love inside the timid little needy Vizsla frame.

We still treat Bodi with the respect that the elder dog deserves, holding Oliver back at the door to let Bodi out first, giving Bodi his food first, always sharing the love between them, and will continue to do so, but I wish I had all the answers to this one, and could see what is going on inside those little red-heads.

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 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!

Sterling and Gracie as happy as can be!!!

Here we have Bodi’s friends… Sterling and Gracie! Two awesome Weimaraners!

Sterling and Gracie have the most incredible personalities. They are both beautiful (of course), fun loving, energetic (their mom and dad can vouch for this), loyal, regal, goofy, majestic, sensitive, silly, etc… etc…! Does that sound a lot like our V’s? Yes! And just like the V’s (and in the human race.. as I am told by my husband) the females become a little more challenging… pushing your buttons (hee hee hee), all along the journey of life and the males are big babies, and become even bigger babies as they get older. So true, so true! Sorry… couldn’t resist! Tucker become such a baby… I loved it!

Just look at Sterling and Gracie… both of them have their tongues hanging out… running to their daddy.. as happy as can be. I love this! I love the energy! These guys are so cool and Bodi O is very lucky to have them in his life.

"There's Gold in Them There Mountains... Oh Wait, That's Just Bodi, Leaving a Golden......!"

A little over a month ago… I had the wonderful opportunity to meet up with Sterling and Gracie’s Dad, Brian, out on the trails while I was walking Bodi. It was great! We had a good walk, and talked about Tucker… as Brian knew Tucker and Tuck loved Sterling and Gracie. But it was so nice to see Bodi walking with Sterling and Gracie… to see them exchanging kisses, mainly with Gracie Girl, all along the way. It was good healing for me… as I have been hurting so much, from the loss of Tucker. To see my little Bodi, out with these guys, being so good, so loving… it just touched my heart in so many ways.

On that note… I will sign off and leave you with these great pics. Enjoy!!

Bodi and the Bling!

Check out our little Bodi!  We will now call him, “Mr. B” (like Mr. T)!  I love this pic… he is so cute.

Jim thought it would be cute to put the different chain collars we had for both of the boys, on him.   He now wears Tuck’s chain… as it is the only one that fits him!

Bodi was a “little chubby” when we first got him.  In fact, we used to call him “Sumo Bodi”!  He has lost a total of 20 lbs. since we adopted him 7 months ago.  So each collar we bought for him, got way too loose.   Tuck’s collar is now the perfect fit for him.

We brought the little “poop” home on February 16th, 2009.  He turned 3 on March 4, 2009.  Jim & I have come to the realization, that Bodi is still a pup!!  We have already instilled so much training (and love of course) into him, that he sometimes comes across as an older dog.   He is very smart and very loyal, already.    He is also… extremely energetic (that’s where the puppy in him comes out)!  As we love all three of these traits (having had that with Tuck for 12 years), it’s the energy of a puppy that amazes us.

Tucker still had that “puppy” energy, up until his 12th birthday, just this past June.  He had the same enthusiasm as he did when he was Bodi’s age.  His mind was very much there and very much willing… unfortunately, his body was starting to tire out.  Not moving as good as he used to… but with our help (lifting him onto the bed and into the Jeep and Truck) he stayed strong!.

Tucker had a tremendous influence on Bodi.  Bodi picked up the mature, refined energy from Tuck and Tuck picked up some of the youthful, pent up energy that Bodi  often exhibits!  The two were very good for each other and brought so much to the table, to enrich each others lives.

Our little Bodi O misses Tucker terribly… and often looks for him throughout the house…wondering when his big brother is going to come home, so he can take the toy out of his mouth!!  He misses that little game that they used to play… and we miss seeing it.

As time goes on,  we are healing… with the help and love from our little Bodi O!!