Happy Howlidays!

Jacques is an equal opportunity well-wisher kind of guy. Really it’s just that he likes to party and socialize. Don’t let him near the punch bowl – trust me on that one!

Seriously, though… Whatever howliday you’re celebrating, we hope you have a safe and wonderful time! May your 2015 be filled with love, health, and happiness!!

And remember… help those who cannot help themselves.

Jacques was not harmed while taking these photos.
However, if he could see them, I am sure he would be quite humiliated.

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The Time Jacques Saved the Day

Jacques never ceases to amaze me. Sometimes it’s his cuteness. Sometimes it’s his tenacity. Most of the time it’s his insanity. But one day last February when Rocky was still with us… He really came through for me. And for Rocky. I think about that day and even now am still amazed.

I was in the kitchen & noticed Jacques at the back door. I made eye contact with him and watched him turn around and run, but before he got out of eyesight, he turned and looked at me, looked off to the side, then ran off again. It made me think that something was wrong – especially because Rocky was nowhere to be seen. I ran out the back door and found Rocky splayed out on the icy snow. One leg was twisted and turned backwards – I thought it might have been broken. He was struggling to get up and crying. I ran over to him and was somehow able to get his legs under him so that he could stand up. The whole time I worked on Rocky, Jacques was running laps around us and barking as if he was telling Rocky, “Come on! You can do it!”

Rocky’s foot was bloody from a cut caused by the icy snow, but he was able to limp towards the back door. Most of the way there he couldn’t put weight on his back foot, but by the time we made it inside he was able to walk. Thankfully he wound up being okay, just a little shaken up. Jacques followed us the whole time, barking his encouragement. (Okay, I don’t speak dog, so I have no idea what he was “saying,” but this is my story and I say he was barking encouragement, so that’s what we’re going with.) Had Rocky been out there much longer, he might not have been able to walk back to the house on his own. I’m not sure what I would have done, but I’m thankful I didn’t have to think about that.

I was so proud of Jacques and so pleased (and surprised to be honest) that he was able to alert me that something was wrong. He got lots of extra treats, hugs, and kisses that night.

And that was the time Jacques saved the day.

Someone’s Been Sleeping in My Bed

(Or… You’re Not Goldilocks!)

I guess Jacques took offense to my post about him sleeping on the job because not long  after that, he started greeting me again anytime I returned from being gone. Well, most of the time. (He’s consistently inconsistent. I can respect that.)

One day last week I came home and didn’t find him waiting at the door for me. I assumed I would find him on his “perch” on the back of the couch in the living room. As I walked through the kitchen towards the living room, I began to hear the tiniest pitter patter of feet and saw Jacques making his way towards me. “How nice of you to get up,” I said to him. He greeted me with a sleepy tail wag and a half-hearted stretch onto my leg. After we said our hellos, I continued through the house to the master bedroom and found this:

What the whaaaaat???!!! He hadn’t been on his “perch,” but had been sleeping in my bed – on my pillow!!! The pillow was still warm!! Again – what the whaaat??!!!!

Apparently Momma’s pillow is “just right” because that wasn’t the first time he commandeered it. One day he did it right in front of my husband.

All three of us were in the master bedroom. I left the room and, according to my husband, Jacques watched me leave, looked at my pillow, looked to make sure I was gone, then ran over and threw himself onto my pillow (with a loud “harumph” for emphasis). I heard hysterical laughter and poked my head back in the room. Jacques was pretending to be sound asleep (he’s good at “playing possum”) and my husband was trying to compose himself enough to kick Jacques off the bed. After hearing the story, I started laughing. Eventually we composed ourselves enough to reclaim my pillow much to Jacques’s chagrin.

I would say that my house has gone to the dog(s), but I have a feeling everyone I know would say that happened a long time ago. There are worse things in life, right?