HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY MICK!!!!

FROM THIS...


TO THIS





Dear Mick,

It has been, ummm, an eventful year with you. You were SO cute that first day I brought you home. I had NO idea what ticked underneath all that yellow cottony fur. The first 10 minutes home you fell asleep right on my shoes. And I was all "WHAT a sweet little angel!"

That was the last time I ever said those words. sigh. As soon as you woke up the "fun" began. You were SO tiny that you fit under EVERYTHING. You loved my bed best. you would get under there where I couldn't reach you and just run around in circles and bark. And later, I realized that you were probably barking at all the mattress material you had ripped out from the box spring. You were not a snuggly puppy. You liked your private sleep space. You slept in ever tiny crevice in the house, you liked it behind the recliner chair.

You would play hard, and then pass out.

toys lasted about 20 minutes when you were involved. But by then you would be passed out and when you slept, and ONLY when you were asleep did I sigh and think "you are so sweet..when you're sleeping"

Every single day I would say to myself "I am giving him away. He is crazy. I can't have a crazy dog. My other two are PERFECT. Why did I have to go screw it all up?! I neeed to give him away while he's still so cute, so people don't suspect what's really there. They'll be suckered into his cuteness like I was." But then everyday, lucky for you, you would sleep, and I would change my mind. Never did you get that your precious life hung in the balance of those naps...or maybe you did.

I finally told myself that if i actually PAY for professional photographs, and actually get a good Christmas card picture out of it, then I would be more inclined to keep you. It worked. Whenever I started posting a 'craigslist' ad I would pull up iphoto and just look at how sweet you are...in pictures. I'd try to forget the sweat and dirt and HUNDREDS of frames and treats it took to get those shots, and then the two nights of diarrhea that ensued from all those treats. I uploaded all your pics onto my iphone so I could bring them up at any time to remind myself why I love you. I stared at those pictures A LOT.

Soon enough, as the weeks went by and you got bigger you couldn't fit into you nap time crawl spaces, which frustrated you to no end. you tried and tried. And quickly though, you went from sleeping under things, to being perfectly comfortable on top of things. You have been comfortable there ever since.
From day one, when you tried to nurse off of Maggie, and she kicked you down, you were confused by her lack of maternal insincts, but in love with your new doggie family. They put you in your place over and over and over, yet you never gave up.

They made you keep your distance at first, and it took a while for Beck to warm up to your annoying ways, but eventually you became one of the pack. and that's all you cared about. I could have fallen down in an epileptic fit and you would have yawned, but if Beck even LOOKED AT YOU it would make you wiggle and squirm with glee.
You were sad when Beck Died and you lost your idol, and that's when you and Maggie bonded for life. You still, however, ignore me.

Now, I still don't get you, but i can't imagine life without you. I mean I CAN, it looks tranquil on the other side of the fence, but you make life, umm, interesting. You love and are fascinated with the bathtub.

You dig holes, BIG holes, holes you can stand your full body in. Where ever there is loose dirt, and/or loose bedsheets, you try to dig holes. You even tried to dig a hole IN the bathtub for some reason.

You drink out of the toilet, a habit NONE of my other dogs have ever had. You steal all the neighbors newspapers and trot around with them. this makes me laugh, so I haven't corrected that behavior. It only makes me laugh though, until you bring them all into the house and shred each one. You like that. shredding. You "wake" me by jumping on my face and then wrestling with maggie. on my face. You LOVE my Ugg Boots. You pull every single one out of my closet. You dont ruin them, per se, you just take them all out and toss them around the living room. Or you just get them all out and sit with them. One has to wonder if you think they're some sort of furry little precious baby in your eyes.


You still are, and probably always will be a complete pain in the ass. But you have made me laugh and cry...and cry...and cry. I love you TONS. Though, i do still need to keep Carin's photo shoot on hand. Very close at hand.

PS. Mick would like you all to know he is registered at Petco and The Barking Lot.