My Dog

We have the most annoying, but cutest dog ever. He's a 10-year-old mini schnauzer named Oliver who thinks he's a person. He only barks to go outside because we stupidly spoiled him into believing he gets a bone treat whenever he comes in. I am convinced that about 90% of the time when he wants to go out it's only to get the reward when he comes back in. So, he'll go out and not 2 minutes later he's barking at the door, then 3 minutes later he's wanting to go out again. I guess he has us trained pretty well. Also, he thinks the couch is his personal domain. When my husband and I are sitting there in the evening, Oliver will whine and huff at us until we go to bed and Oliver takes his place in the center of the couch. When we have guests, he will whine at them, too, or he'll jump up and lie down with his head in their lap. They think he's snuggling because he likes them, but it's really just his way of letting everyone know who's couch it is. Oh, and I forgot to mention that he is MY dog. He snuggles with me the most - but that may just be that he likes my side of the couch best. During his first Christmas season soon after we got him, Oliver knocked down all of the silver balls and the garland from the Christmas tree. When I got home from work that day (this was before kids) there was broken glass EVERYWHERE in the living room. I guess he saw lots of little Olivers and wanted to play. When we moved from that apartment 2 years later, we found bits of ornaments under the couch. Oliver's legacy.

Oliver loves the baby's room - there's a window and a rocking chair that he has also claimed in there. That's fine except that in the rare instance that my little napless wonder does fall asleep in the afternoon, that will inevitably be the time that someone will walk by and Oliver will feel the need to protect his turf with high pitched fervent barking. Sigh.

Speaking of the napless wonder, she only took one 45 minute nap early today, so the poor little thing fell asleep while I was feeding her at 6pm tonight. Hopefully she'll just sleep on through the night. She probably would have gone for a nap at 2pm, but we had to go pick up the boys at school, and that gave her a second wind. It's really cute to watch the boys play with their little sister. I'm thankful for these great kids. And the furry kid, too, though Oliver hasn't quite figured out that he's only the dog.