Man's Best Friend

The only real rule in our house regarding The Boy is that he is not allowed to sleep in the bed. I usually hit the sack before The Husband, and The Boy usually snuggles with me until "Daddy" comes upstairs. At this point, The Boy knows it's time for the floor until the alarm goes off in the morning and he can get back in the bed. The Husband went soft on the rules last night:

The Husband: (entering bedroom): OK. The Boy can sleep in the bed tonight.

Me: Really?! Why?

The Husband: Because I just watched Marley and Me, and Marley died.

Me: You knew Marley died. Did you cry?

The Husband: Of course not. Well, almost.

Ah, a fissure in The Husband's stoic facade.

Behold, destruction via the power chewer

If you have dogs, especially large, monster chewers like The Boy, you've probably heard of the Kong toy. All of my previous dogs (all large dogs, all chewers) have had and loved the Kong. And I've always loved the Kong, because it's nearly indestructible...until the Kong met The Boy.

I left The Boy alone with his Kong for 5 minutes.  It is now missing a huge chunk of rubber. I don't think he ate enough of it that he can't pass it, but Jesus, Joseph and Mary. There is nothing my kid can't destroy.

I'll certainly buy him another one. As far as toys go, this one is the one that made it the furthest. And it's totally worth the minimal investment. But man...his jaws have the strength of Sampson, pre-haircut.

How the in-laws ruined a perfectly good dog

We just returned from a long weekend with the in-laws.  Since they don't have any grandchildren of the two-legged variety, The Boy has to do.  It is our belief that dogs don't need to eat people food.  That belief, combined with the fact that The Boy has an incredibly delicate constitution, has kept The Boy on a strict dry food diet, peppered with the occasional milkbone.  The In-laws did not understand how we could be so strict with someone so cute.  Here is a partial list of the items ingested by our dog, courtesy of the in-laws:

steak

bbq chicken

crackers

crusty italian bread

popcorn

stuffing

pretzels

apple juice?

I don't know why the FIL thought The Boy needed to try apple juice.  We've been home for 3 hours, and The Boy is now begging every time we put hand to mouth.

Now I'm left wondering...how long does it take to deprogram a dog?