I love my furkids!

You know what it's like when your dogs get to that certain age? A friend in work and I were talking about this today. When you get a dog as a puppy, it's cute and furry and you play with it. Then it gets bigger....and maybe not as cute.....and doesn't seem to grasp the idea of things. But, you keep at it, and next thing you know, they're great.

My dogs are at that point. They're still young enough (about 3 yrs old, litter mates) that everything new is something to check out. And boy, do these 2 have energy! But they behave.

If a stranger comes to the house, they bark....but when my son or I come home, not a sound.

No more accidents in the house!!! Can't even remember how long ago that was....and it was totally my fault!

And cute? Well, let me tell you, there is nothing more fun to watch than the interaction between 2 dogs, or 1 or 2 dogs and their humans!

My pups are crate trained, but sometimes stay in the house alone, out of their crates. No worry about accidents, no trash turned over, no messes! Today, I even left doors open, or simply pushed closed, and they didn't venture where they weren't supposed to. Even my bed went untouched! Of course, I was only gone for about 30-40 minutes, but still.

Lately we've been working on stopping certain behaviors that are annoying me. When someone arrives at the house, they surround the person, sniffing and tail wagging. I've been making them stay put until the visitors (even my son) are in and settled they get called over.

The other behavior that I think we got licked is Daisy barking when Brian and Duke play. Brian loves to play tug with Duke. There is 1 rope, no matter what, when Brian picks it up and starts waving it around, Duke will grab onto and play tug-o-war! He really enjoys it, as does Brian, and it's exercise for him. However, Daisy tends to bark. She's trying to tell Duke that this is unacceptable behavior, I think, but she's annoying. Well, I've started using Cesar Milan's method of disciplining her, and it's working!

These are MY dogs. They are not my son's, and they know it. They will come to me over anyone. They follow me more than anyone. And they protect me. If I go in my room, I guarantee I have at least 1 pup on watch in my doorway!

When we went on vacation last year, up to Massachusetts, the pups were belted in the back seat together. They were very well behaved, and at all times at least one of them was awake and on watch.

That's Daisy on watch, Duke napping.

Here's some random pictures:

Duke sleeping

Daisy Sleeping

Miss Daisy
Mr Duke
At Karen's in MA
Two peas in a pod!

Aren't they cute? LOL

The closest we can figure, they are a mix of Doberman, Shepherd and some kind of hound. They are litter mates, having been abandoned together when they were about 5 months old. They've never been apart for more than a few hours.