Bogie's Last Day

Sunday was a bittersweet day for our family. We gave Bogie to my aunt and uncle that live out in the country near Heppner, OR. We felt he deserved a better life than being cooped up in our tiny yard. He is a hunting and outdoors dog at heart and he just wasn't thriving and living the life that he should. Also, with as busy as our life has become we just didn't have the time to devote to him and that made us sad. Kendle was pretty devastated about the ordeal, but we will take the kids up to visit him and she'll see what a great time he's having and how happy he is and feel better about it I hope. My aunt Alaina and uncle Mark live in a cool place with lots of room for him to roam and a creek that runs behind their property. They also have another dog to be a buddy for Bogie. It's basically a dream home for him and I am so thankful and relieved that he is going to a good place where he will have a great life.

We took these pictures at my parents house Sunday afternoon before we let him go. Bogie was so excited to have space to run we could hardly get him to calm down.

I thought back on some good memories of Bogie and here are a few:

*When we first got him, we tried sleeping him out in the garage since it was winter time, and he would just whine and cry like a baby. So we'd let him in the house and he'd go right to Kendle's room and sleep on the floor by her bed. They were buddies from the start.

*When I was having really bad morning sickness with Morgan, he was still a puppy and I think he could tell I wasn't feeling good so he would come lay by me on the couch in a comforting way. I taught him to fetch the newspaper for me so I didn't have to step outside in the cold. (that would come back to bite me)

*In the summertime when I would be out watering flowers I would always give him a big drink from the hose and spray him down. He would act like he didn't like it and run away, but he'd always come back for more. When we'd put the sprinkler on for the kids to run through he would do it too and we would all laugh so hard. I think that dog knew he was funny. There were times when I swear he was actually smiling.

*One time when he was about a year old, he dug under the gate and got out. In the morning we found about five newspapers and a shoe that he had brought home and put on our doorstep. Guess he got confused that we only wanted our newspaper and shoes brought back home. Glad we have nice neighbors.

*Sometimes we'd be in the backyard playing soccer or letting the kids race each other and Bogie would always try and join in the fun. He would make the kids mad because he'd go and get the soccer ball and run away with it or try and knock them over while they were running just like an annoying big brother. We'd always end up laughing about it though.

*And I don't think we'll ever forget this or this. We still laugh about those incidents and probably always will.

So we'll try and forget about all of the digging in the yard, the escaping under the fence, and the chewing up of lawn furniture and toys and just remember the good times. Thanks Bogie for all of the fun you gave us the last four years.

The boy and his dog

There's nothing like your neighbor knocking on your door holding your 2 year old who until that moment you thought was playing quietly in the back yard. First there is surprise, then confusion, then total annoyance that the dynamic duo has struck again. Our neighbors dog has been digging holes under our fence and Bogie snuck under there to go play. Guess who followed him? That's right, his trusty partner in crime - Morgan. I'm not sure if the thought of Morgan crawling under the fence after his dog should make me laugh or cringe. So much for thinking fences will keep the kids safe in the yard. Little boys are definitely a breed of their own.

Bogie, that rascall

I have not mentioned much about our dog Bogie on my blog. He is a chocolate lab and a good pet for the most part. When he's not digging stuff up or tearing things apart that is. *For the record, I am not really a pet person. Especially where big dogs are concerned.* But we've had him since he was a little puppy (boy those cute little puppies sure are deceiving) and he's become part of the family. Riley has trained him to be his hunting companion and he's really good at that. There is something about this dog that is strangely human at times. For example, on occasion he looks like he's actually smiling at you. But this picture I've posted below cracked our family up to no end. What a silly dog. Riley just happened to glance out of the window in Morgan's bedroom and had to run and get the camera to capture this: (sorry they are taken through the window, so the quality is not very good)














This winter Riley bought Bogie an old blanket to sleep with in his little house inside the kennel and as you can see, he had started to tear and shred it up. But I guess he decided it was too cold and he needed it after all.













Oh, that Dog.