Zakk was our first addition to our family. He will be 3 years old March this year. Zakk is MEGA special to us, especially Michael. He was given to us by his aunt and uncle after Michael's cousin Jimi passed away. Jimi had a lab named Bailey and when he passed his parents bred Bailey once and gave a few family and friends a puppy. I'll never forget when his aunt called us and told us to come meet our new family member. We didn't know what dog we were getting. They saved us the only chocolate male. He was so tiny and so cute!! It was of course love at first sight. I was so nervous to have our first pet to have to care for. Three years later, I couldn't imagine life without him. He is amazing and hilarious. Zakk is so much like Mike it is not even funny. He is picky, particular, finicky, and stubborn. He is absolutely without a doubt a total snob. He is the cleanest dog on earth. I hear him every morning around 3:30am licking his paws. It drives me insane!! You won't find a spec of dirt on him. He likes his face to be cleaned off every morning and loves his one on one time with us in bed every morning. He is definitely treated differently which I feel bad about. He is spoiled rotten. He knows how to whisper, shake, lay, sit and can tell you a secret, but he cannot for the love of God not jump on you when you walk in the house. He has his trifling ways such as: eating out of the garbage, eating dirty socks and underwear (so gross), eats any paper product (loves tissues), gets up every night to go to the bathroom around 3:30am, he cannot stay outside if we are inside because he cries, he has bad begging for food habits. There are certain bad habits that I don't find bad but others do. He likes to lay across your shoulders on the back of the couch like a cat. He's most comfortable there while he chews his ball or bone in your ear. Below is a picture of him on Mike's shoulders. 
He goes by numerous names such as: Zakky, Zachariah, Bubbas, No Balls, and Ass bag or Garbage Face as Mike would call him. Michael also tells him everyday, "Who's my hounddog?!" He is obsessed with one of his toy balls called "Sparkles" and Michael claims that he loves country music. In any case, he rules the roost and we love him!! Zoey is our second addition. She turns 2 years old this month. Our former neighbors' dog got pregnant and he gave us one of the puppies which was Zoey. She is the SWEETEST dog you will ever meet. She rolls over onto her back first thing when you meet her. She loves her tummy scratched and is submissive. Zoey was such a huge help with Zakk when we got her. She loves to play and they bonded so well together when we brought her home. I call her Michael's other woman because she is in love with Michael. She follows him every where in the house. She wakes up first thing in the morning and wants Michael. She has the most gentle shake ever! She is so dainty. She is also our most well behaved dog. She is the only one allowed to go out in the front yard because she will stay right by your side and not run off. She loves to go for a ride in the car and is just awesome. She is usually all of our family and friends favorite dog because she is so sweet and gentle. She loves children and will watch kids play for hours if she could. She will be my side kick when Clara is born, I just know it. She is also food obsessed. She will wake from a dead sleep if she hears the cookie jar. She is also sort of our loner dog. She doesn't mind being alone and if she is annoyed with the noise in the living room she will just leave us and go in her crate and sleep by herself. Her favorite place to sleep in the evening though is on Michael's lap. She waits every night for him to come home and then waits until he lifts his legs and he invites her up and then she snuggles up against his legs and falls asleep. Below is a picture of her asleep on Michael. 
We almost lost Zoey last year when we got Izzy. It's a long story but basically they were playing and Izzy's tooth got stuck in Zoey's collar and her collar had cinched up and was choking her to death. She had passed out and her eyes were coming out of her head, lips were purple and she had soiled herself. I was finally able to break Izzy's tooth free and rip the collar off of Zoey and she took a really LONG breath and regained her air. I have never been so scared in all of my life. She was totally fine. Izzy had bites all over her from Zoey and they were both scared. I of course didn't put her in a collar for months because I was so scared. I would never use the plastic clasp kind of collar again. We only use cloth belt loop collars now. I will never be able to get that look on her face out of my mind. I thought she was a goner. So that moment made me realize how much I loved her. She has numerous names as well: Zoers, Zoeybelle, Little Dog, and Shortstack. She likes to chase the ball somewhat, she mostly likes to chase the other dogs and bite their necks when they are chasing the ball. She will follow anyone into the bathroom and sit with them while they go. She's real helpful like that, lol. She rarely barks and when she does you better watch out. She has a vicious bark and is our best guard dog. The only bad thing about Zoey is that she is a chicken eater. She killed one of my mom's chickens one time and I felt so horrible. But she can't help it, it's in her blood. Zoey holds a special place in our heart and we love her to death!!
Izzy is our newest addition. We got her a year ago, January 2008. Michael's aunt and uncle's neighbor found her out in the Olive Dr. area running around stray. They tried to find her owners and no one every claimed her. She had no collar and was stick thin. Her ribs were showing bad. So of course when they asked if we wanted her because they couldn't keep her we jumped all over the chance. Izzy is the tallest of the dogs and is still skinny. The vet says she weighs the perfect amount but she still seems thin to me. She is incredibly needy. I definitely think she was abused by someone. She is scared of loud noises and has major anxiety. We we first got her she dug holes all over the yard and would get into my mom's yard constantly. Mike put up an electric wire and that stopped her for a while. When we moved to our new home, everything was fine except for the fact that Izzy ate every tree and plant in our yard. First she ate all of the tops of the sprinklers Mike had just put in and spent a ton of money on. Most recently he was in the back yard checking all of the plants and she had ate our 5 foot fig tree down to a 6 inch stub. She was also the only one to taste our peaches on our peach trees. I kept finding pits around the yard and couldn't figure out what they were from and then I realized our peach tree had bloomed and she ate the peaches, lol!! I watched her one day from the window, jump up about 3 feet and pull down branches off of my star jasmine. She just destroys stuff because of anxiety and energy. She needs to be walked or ran daily and we don't get to do that. Now that I'm home she is a lot better. She is also the most loving. She wants in your lap and will paw you to death in order to get your attention. Mike has been really frustrated with her since he brought her home but it's too late now, she's a keeper. He loves her though regardless. Her most recent issue is that she eats Zakk's poop. She literally waits as he is going to the bathroom. It is so disgusting. The vet gave us stuff to feed the other dogs that make their poop taste bitter but we haven't tried it yet. Below is a pic of Izzy pawing Mike.
She has the softest ears ever and they are so cute and floppy. She makes the loudest sleeping noises and dreams like crazy. She kicks in her sleep, sucks in her sleep and whines in her sleep. She is the best alternative to a blanket, she can keep you so warm. She loves to snuggle and will spoon with you in the morning. You just can't let her lick you. She's been with us a year and I would say one of the best years regardless of her small issues. She also has other names: Izabel, Izzers, Izzy girl, whites and another foul name that Mike has for her regarding eating poop. She also spins for food. Which is adorable. She is the cutest when she brings you the ball. She cannot for nothing just bring the ball to your level, she always drops it in front of you and cries for you to throw it. She would literally chase the ball all day long. She loves it and shakes while she waits for you to throw it. I love my Izzy girl and wouldn't trade her for the world!!That's our life in a nut shell with our dogs. We can't go anywhere anymore because I feel bad leaving them outside in bad weather. Going out of town is near impossible overnight because the only person I have to house sit is my brother Thomas and he makes them stay off the couches and leaves them outside during the day. We can't take all 3 of the dogs out of town to the beach or camping because it's too much. I feel bad just taking one and not the others. Zakk is the only one who has seen the beach when he was a puppy and Zoey had went camping. Izzy hasn't gone anywhere yet. We love to be home with our dogs. They bring such joy to our lives!! I'm really nervous about having Clara and ignoring the dogs. I'm going to try my hardest to keep things the way they are. 
1 comment:
I got through it. So at least one person read it, and you were so worried. i know we love your dogs, and i think that they are all good with children, Zakk the least because he is so jumpy, but they were so good with our kids. Ben loves looking on you blog for new puppy pictures. he wants a Zakk so bad, to late, he got Duke, and he's growing like a weed. Ben and him actually played together today. -Alisa
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