Casey will be turning 9 (I think) this year - we got him from a former colleague who had just rescued him from an abusive home. I thought he'd be a good match for mom so got him while she was vacationing in Vegas with Deb. I met her at the airport with him in my lap - she rushed over with this grin and (pretend) angry eyes saying "what did you do??" and it was love/hate at first sight.
For the most part, he's a good dog, but he's got annoying habits as well. He's a snauzer, so by nature a barker. I think mom's biggest complaint about him is that he's insanely destructive; to this day, he gets pissed off when left alone at home and typically takes it out on mom's bedding...he shreds it. My biggest complaint is that he's costing me a fortune in cat food...could it really taste that much better than dog food?
Previous to these past couple of weeks, we took him in when mom went away because we had too - but we were happy to see mom come back because seriously, having him in the house was like having another child....I always had to have an eye on him; otherwise he'd be stealing food from the kids, chewing apart anything paper on the floor, humping the cushions or worse - bed pillows, or sneaking downstairs to pee on the (new) carpet (why casey?)
About 3 Christmas's ago, my mom went to Pheonix for a week and the dog had the pukes/runs for almost the entire time. We later learned that he was reacting to his rabies shot, but at the time I just thought he missed my mom and made himself sick with stress. We also used to have this massive babygate up separating the great room from the rest of the house - it was metal and would "clang" shut. I think the gate scared the crap out of him and whenever he was in the backroom he'd cower on the couch and visibly shudder. He used to also sleep with us, and since he insisted on sleeping horizontally on the bed (and stretching out) it made for some wicked bad nights.
BUT - it seems he's matured (finally!) And I can honestly say that it's been nice having him around these past couple of weeks. Why?
- the kids just adore him...I was about to say especially Leah, but even Paige likes to cozy up to him
- he "does his business" in the backyard...which has been great as the temperature has dipped to below 20 in the past week
- he's been eating his dry food! Yay! So I haven't had to open up and dish out that nasty yucky soft crap
- he's been happily sleeping on Peyton's bed - an arrangement that they've both been happy with
- watching him (think he can) bully the cat has brought us all a bunch of laughter
- when I'm yelling his name and looking for him, he typically will just peek around the couch and look at me like I'm crazy (which is MUCH better than finding him wandering the bedrooms upstairs.)
So he still barks every time the doorbell rings; he still eats the cat food every chance he can; I still do not trust him alone with my pillows/cushions, but aside from that, it's been a nice visit and - dare I say - we just might miss him when he goes back home on Monday :)
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