What defines a family? Most would say "A mom, dad and children" but not all families are set to those standards or that size. Maybe you didn't have a mom or dad growing up and your aunt adopted you. Or maybe now that you are older in life you consider your best friend or even your neighbors around you to be your family. Well, I have a large family who loves me very much but my intermediate family consists of my husband and our four dogs....yes I said four hairy drooling canines. Crazy I know right? Well, like most mothers I take lots of pictures and I love to look back on when they were younger and aw over them so I wanted to make something where I could share our days together. Plus, I'm pretty sure I drive all my Facebook friends crazy with all of my "dog related" posts ha ha. The first step will be an introduction.
First Off, there's my husband Travis and me, Laura. We were married on September 11th 2009 when we first started our family.
The first "born" into our family would be Nanook Theodore Theuring. Nanook is an American Eskimo or "Spitz" and was born on October 11th 2009.
We adopted Nanook from a puppy store in a local mall right around Christmas time when we were home visiting on leave. This 2 month old fuzzy ball of energy was my first Christmas present from my newly wed husband Travis. We brought him home not knowing much about how to care for a dog, let alone a puppy. He was the start to long a road of knowledge and many more balls of fur to come. At the time Travis was still enlisted in the United States Marine corp in Jacksonville NC so we naturally made the road trip back to what we called home and I raised him as a "stay at home mom" until Travis's contract was up. I learned about a standard dog's diet, how to trim nails, how to bathe a dog and the list went on. I was intrigued with him and dogs in general by this point.
After moving back to Ohio we lived with my dad for a while and Nanook continued to grow.
The day before we signed a contract with an apartment complex we adopted a second dog, August.
August September Theuring is a Siberian husky and was born September 9th 2010.
At 2 months old we brought her home in hope for her to be Nanook's new playmate. She had raccoon eyes that would make you think someone applied eye liner. She was so pretty and so elegant. Her and Nanook became the best of friends but she soon ruled the pack and became alpha between the two, but at this point I knew that was typical dog behavior.
I had a job now and couldn't be home all day everyday to care for Nanook and give him the attention that I did before. We all lived in a small 2 bedroom apartment with just a concrete slab and a small area of grass as a yard. I landed a job at a local Petsmart working with small animals and cats but I hated it. I knew there was a "Pet hotel" on the other side of the store and that interested me so much more. They had doggie daycare with all day puppy play and being around dogs everyday made be love my job. I eventually landed the job there in the hotel at the front desk doing customer service so I brought Nanook and August with me when I could afford to do so due to the fees we had to pay for the daycare services. There I learned about a lot of pet diseases, sanitation, some grooming and a lot of training practices. I applied that at home when I could and it benefited my dogs and their well being. After about a year I had a coworker who found a job at a 5 star pet resort downtown called Red Dog. She got me an interview and after 2 weeks I had a job doing pretty much the same thing there. The people were great and I could tell I was in a whole new genre of work with how we cared for these animals. After a few months a coworker was holding a 2 month old puppy in his arms whom I didn't recognize. He told me he was a pup another co worker had found tied up to a gas station pump and had managed to talk to his original owner who had abandoned him after her baby's daddy dumped her. I immediately fell in love with his "fraggle like" ears and sweet nature.
Kodak Bocephus Theuring is what we believe to be a Miniature Leonberger and would have been born around March 3rd 2011.
He is as gentle as a teddy bear and won my husband's heart over within minutes of what I claimed to be "fostering" him but we all know how that goes ha ha. He would make number 3 in our growing pack and we were perfectly OK with that. Kodak grew and grew and grew and became quite a large sized pup at now 81lbs with August following at 45lb and Nanook at 36lbs.Our apartment was growing smaller and smaller as our dogs grew and we knew we were breaking our lease agreement with our pet limit so we started looking for a house to rent.
After a long search we found one with a large fenced in back yard and moved in shortly after. All three dogs went to work with me daily and played in daycare (at no charge which was a wonderful perk of the new job) and I learned so much more about how to groom a dog properly and how to maintain their coat so I didn't have to fork out hundreds of dollars on my three pups every few months. Eventually after gaining all of this knowledge about dogs and after growing so far with the company I began to feel... how should I put this.........itchy. Travis and I both had the puppy itchy for another young one around the house. By this point I had been with Red Dog for about a year and was entirely happy with my career choice. I loved dogs!
One weekend Travis and I adopted a 2 month old ball of fuzz we named Dublin Ireland Theuring.
She was born November 30th 2011 and we took her home intending on her to grow to what we were told she was which was a standard Australian Shepherd. Her mom and dad were both 55lbs plus with a red/rust or Merle coat but she was the only black and tan one out of the litter. She never grew to be 55lbs and capped at 34lbs which is considered a miniature, but we were OK with this. I had attempted to train Kodak to be what I call a desk dog for my job and I wanted a dog I could have next to me on a daily basis. They would entertain the clients by sitting in a chair and being well behaved, it would be a promotional phenomenon! Kodak grew to large and too impatient so I knew he couldn't be that dog but Dublin was perfect. She was the perfect size and boy was she smart. Today, clients know to look for her in the center desk chair, smiling (literally she smiles) and they know that if they present a cookie she will perform. Clients eat it up and the staff enjoys her sweet nature.
Now as a pack today they all stand differently. August remains Alpha but Dublin will try her best to take that spot in a home setting always remaining sweet natured with humans and other dogs outside her pack. Don't get me wrong, they get along wonderfully but that alpha struggle is always there as long as a pack is established. Nanook is the lazy snuggler who would rather sleep than move around the house.
Kodak is up for anything as long as he gets a pat on the head you promise to take him swimming at some point soon.
August keeps watch over the bunch and remains to be almost cat-like on a daily basis. Always majestic but always prowling for a squirrel to chase.
Dublin is always looking for something to chew on (dog toys not furniture, shoes etc...shes well trained remember?) or looking for a belly rub.
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And yes my dogs know the camera all too well. I have taught them to literally pose for me ha ha!
Now that you've been introduced to our past lets move on to our future! I say to myself "these dogs are better than TV!" because they truly are entertaining and are full of love and life itself. As I blog I will share many things having to do with not just my dogs but dogs in general seeing as you may have one yourself. I learn so much working where I do and I want to share the happiness and knowledge I get to experience everyday. I hope you enjoy our adventures and our very furry family.
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