My Funny Valentine

Ah, Valentine's Day. :) I must say it was very laid back this year, not a lot of frills. Which was kind of nice, really. I did get a lovely bouquet of flowers the day before Valentine's. And I went out for a while on Saturday evening to Petsmart (had to take advantage of the one day cat supply sale to get cat litter), and when I arrived back home, Dalton and Jackson (with a little help from Daddy) made me heart shaped jello!!

Here I am with two of my three favorite boys on Valentine's Day.

Dalton did some posing for us that night. We asked him to do different emotions for us, which of course he did, because he likes to ham it up for the camera. A lot of his different emotions look very much like the previous, but here are some of my favorites. This one is his "thinking" face.

And this one is his "strong" face.

And then we asked him to be scared, but I think this looks more like he's getting ready to do something really really really naughty and devious...

Jackson has recently begun to hold onto and grasp objects. Now, if I give him a rattle, usually he just chucks it at my head, with surprising accuracy, but he will hold on to his favorite lovey. Half of the time he holds onto it and cuddles it, and the other half of the time he shoves one of the ears into his mouth.

We also took in a new foster this week (temporarily). A local vet called early last week and told me that they had an elderly client who was moving into a nursing home and he didn't know what to do with his dog. They said it was a male, 11 year old, full blooded dachshund. The dog had just had vaccinations, a dental, and blood work and there was nothing wrong with him other than being a little over weight. So of course we took him in.

Some friends of ours will be fostering him when they return from Vegas, but for this week, he's our new house mate. This is Cricket!! BTW-does he look like a dachshund to you? I didn't think so...

Cricket really is a very good dog, for the most part. He spent his entire 11 years with his master, and was never exposed to other dogs, cats, or children. With that being said, he has adjusted pretty well to the hustle and bustle of our home. He does well with our dogs (pretty much just ignores them), and he is afraid of the cats (can't blame him there), and he follows Dalton around, well, like a puppy! He is 100% house trained. His only draw back is that he wants to be with you 24/7, which I guess makes sense since he lived with a retired man his entire life. I tried to crate him the first night he stayed with us as I didn't know how he would do, but he chewed on the wire crate until his mouth bled. If I have him in the house and shut the baby gate while we are eating, with Cricket on the opposite side, he chews on the gate. If I put him outside to go potty, he goes quickly, then chews on the door trim to get back in. Chris says that I am expected to fix this last item on my own. But, let's face the truth here, I'm sure that he will fix it himself because he's afraid that I will mess it up (and to be truthful, I probably would...) Now, I have not heard a bark or whine or anything for the week that we've had him, he's quiet as a mouse. But he sure does think he needs to be with you at all times.

When he is in the house, he spends the majority of his time hiding. He will curl up in the corner by the computer (which is where he is now, under my feet), or he will squeeze under the table by the sofa, or he will hide behind Jackson's jumperoo. Which I don't understand at all because he'll even lay under that while Jackson is in the jumperoo moving around. I don't understand what the difference is between hiding, and being in the crate, but he sure doesn't like to be confined.

I think he'll make a wonderful companion for an older, retired couple, and hope that he is adopted soon. He has been very depressed and missing his owner, so I hope that he doesn't have to stay with us for too long before he is adopted. I would hate for him to get attached to our family just to be uprooted again.