A note from Truman

Being the dog of the house isn't easy these days. When the "visitor" first arrived, he just stayed in Mom or Dad's lap. He'd make noise, then would go to sleep.

He seemed sweet enough. We would all lay on the couch - my couch - like one big happy pack. And as long as I didn't try to give him a bath, we were all cool.

Then the little guy started getting grabby. He grabs my ears. My face and tries to grab my really short hair and pull. For a little guy he has quite a grip!

Now, he's moving around. He bugs me when I'm napping on the couch. He bugs me when I'm napping on the floor. All the time! He tries to smack me with his toys. And what's worse, he even tries to steal my bone. Mom and Dad are so strict with me when it comes to his toys, but they let him grab my bone all the time! How's that fair? At least they take it away from him when I want it or when he tries to chew on it.

The video below shows how he pesters me. I just want to sleep and he's trying to smack me with one of his toys. Mom tells him to "be nice." I wonder if she thought it was nice when he got her with that toy, too?

I've even had my collar taken away. I've been naked for the past 4 months! Yesterday, Mom put it on me to go for a walk around the neighborhood. We haven't done that in a long time. Mom and Dad said something about it being too cold. I don't know what cold means, but it's been terrible outside. There are huge piles of cold, white stuff blocking all of my favorite pee spots. Plus, I shake like crazy out there. I can barely feel my paws when I come in. Anyway, yesterday on the walk, the white stuff was everywhere. Mom kept griping about having to pick up the rolling thing the little person was in and carry it over all the white stuff.

When we got home, I was tired and Mom left my collar on me... until the little person started grabbing it and pulling it. I was good. I didn't knock him over like I wanted to. I tried to pull away, but his grip is SO STRONG! So, Mom pulled my collar off and put it away. Who knows when I'll get to wear it again?

He bugs my buddy, Frankie, too. He grabs his tail, pulls pawfulls of fur and even grabbed his whiskers once! Mom and Dad are pretty quick to make him stop, but I can't believe Frankie hasn't swatted him with his sharp claws. He's the biggest grump in the whole pack and even he gives him a free pass. If I try to play with him, he smacks me. Again, I don't know why this little person gets special treatment, but he seems to be pretty cute. And, when he isn't bugging me, or stealing my stuff, he's not so bad. I guess he isn't a visitor, but the newest member of our pack. That means, I'm going to have to put up with him.

A Boy & His Dog

One of the questions I've been asked over and over again by friends, family and coworkers since Evan has been born is, "How's Truman taking him?" I have to laugh at myself because everyone must have known how much we spoiled and adore Truman. Really, Truman was like our first child...

If you've seen the movie "Marley & Me", you may remember the scene where Owen Wilson's character comes home after his wife, played by Jennifer Anniston, has their first child, and has a talk with Marley about the changes. I admit that I, too, had a similar talk with Truman the day after Evan was born when I went home to grab some sleep, shower and change. And Truman has been such a good dog. While he hates not being the center of attention, he's willing to share it with Evan. There's been times when we've had to shoo Truman away, gone past his usual dinner time because we've been wrapped up with caring for Evan, or realized we haven't let Truman out for several hours... Truman takes it all in stride, and I couldn't have asked for a better response from him. He's such a good dog.

For the first few days after Evan was born, Tru didn't really know what to think of him. But as the days turned to weeks, and weeks into months, Truman has been intrigued with Evan. He loves to be near him and loves to give him kisses.

Of course, at first Evan had no idea Truman existed... But now that Evan has taken notice of the world around him...he's absolutely fascinated with Truman. My morning routine with Evan is usually a bottle on the couch, with Truman napping at the other end...but he inches ever so close to me as I'm holding Evan...and sneaks in a few kisses every now and then. At first, we were protective of Evan around Tru and would only allow him to kiss his feet. Every now and then, Truman would swipe the back of Evan's head as we were holding him. While we still keep a close eye on Truman around him simply because he's a cumbersome 65 lb. bulldog, we've been a bit more relaxed.

As you may have read before, most mornings I take Evan into his bedroom where we have his dance party. Truman has to follow us back there and make sure everything is okay. I think this has mostly to do with Tru wanting to be near the Boy, but also because Truman must be around people and hates being left out. At night when we are trying to feed Evan his last bottle before bed, we have to coax Truman out of the room. He doesn't want to leave!

Truman also likes to 'alert' us when the Little Man is getting fussy. If we have Evan napping in his swing, and he starts to rouse...he'll make a few fussy noises. Truman is typically on the couch with us...and the swing is across the room. Tru will hop down off the couch and go over to check on the Boy, then pace back and forth in front of his swing if Evan keeps fussing then come over and whine to us about it.

One other thing I find absolutely amazing is after we have put Evan down for the night, occasionally Linda & I will share a bottle of wine or a few beers out on our front porch. Truman will tag along with us and we have the baby monitor between us in case the Boy stirs. The baby monitor is pretty awesome...and if Evan so much as hiccups, Truman again will alert us... He'll jump up, stare at the baby monitor, pace again, and try to alert us that we must go check on Evan.

The other night while I was at work, Linda was playing with Evan on the couch...and of course again, Truman was there on the couch too. Since Evan has now noticed this large goofy looking dog, he giggles, coos and laughs at him. Linda took it one step further and reached out Evan's hand to pet Truman...she reported that Evan squealed with delight. She had never heard him make that sound before. Truman then immediately started to lick his hand and this really got Evan tickled.

They are really gonna be a pair...and I couldn't have asked for anything more. But But what would you expect after Truman was voted as "Kansas City's Best Dog" in September 2008 by the Kansas City Star... He will always be our 'baby'.