Muddy

When we decided to move to the country we told that kids that part of living in the country is having a dog ... an outdoor dog, no indoor dogs for this family!! And so, as soon as the weather began to warm up it was time to make true to this promise.


We managed to find our dog off of Kijiji ... and surprisingly quickly too, considering the majority of dogs on there are indoor dogs. We also had to find a dog house and did very well in this area also finding something right along the lines of what we wanted - insulated (didn't realize this would be hard to find, I just assumed all dog houses would be insulated) and with good protection from incoming wind and weather elements ... this one has two rooms, the second room being well protected and warm.


Muddy was originally named Buddy, but we found this a bit ackward since we (especially me) call Matthew Buddy. After some thought it was decided to keep the name similiar but call him Muddy because of the brown that shows up on his legs and face (the german shepherd in him). Muddy was about six months old when we got him. He is a mix of a black labrador retriever and a german shepherd. Since Muddy is only six months old (seven now) that means Muddy is a puppy ... and Muddy sure acts like a puppy. Muddy loves to jump and don't you dare leave your socks or shoes by the trampoline because they will be gone in a second. The puppy aspect of Muddy is frustrating, but with some proper training hopefully will get better. We have already seen much improvement in the month that we have had Muddy. For the time being Muddy has to be tied up unless Rob is out there with him in order to get proper training and to make sure he does not go wandering. He is extremely hyper and jumpy on his chain and when first let off the chain, but has gotten much better now when he's been off his chain for a bit. We really hope that time will come when he does not have to be on a chain but can wander about freely. Unfortunately he listens best to Rob (well it is fortunate he does) and so that means that often when the kids let him off the chain he doesn't last long and he has to go back on because he's not listening.

Picture when Muddy first arrived.

I couldn't get a good picture of him because he wouldn't sit still long enough for us to take a picture, and if he was sitting he was looking up at me and all you get to see if his drooly tongue (and if I crouch to his level all I get to feel is his drooly tongue)
















While Muddy is the family dog, it is mainly Rob that trains him and cares for him ... but Marietta is right in there doing all she can. She loves the dog and loves to take care of the dog. She tries to let him lose to run and train him, but she's not always strong enough to keep him in line. She is often seen outside with him. Matthew also loves to spend time with Muddy, but has to have someone close by in case Muddy gets too excited and starts jumping and bowling him down.

















This lovely grin is not her new way of smiling. Muddy has jumped himself around her a few times and has her legs nicely wrapped up ... she can't move and the more excited Muddy gets the tighter it gets around her legs.

While I'm not a huge animal lover, I do like having a dog ... I just really hope he will mature and lose the puppy habits quickly. And I really hope we can train the jumping habit out of him because jumpy dogs are really annoying!!