Lately my internal alarm clock has been going off at 6:15 in the morning.  For the record, I have absolutely no reason to be up that early.  None.  Zilch.  Zippo.  Unfortunately, once I am up, I’m up; which means I am downstairs making coffee earlier than I would like to be.

This morning we were sans kids and I told myself that no matter what, I was going to stay in bed past 6:15.  I am happy to report that I was successful with that task.  It wasn’t until our dog Lexi woke me up at 7:50 that I stirred from my slumber.

I opened my eyes to Lexi’s big head in my face as she rested her chin on the mattress.  This is normally her cue that she needs to go outside.  As I sat up, she waited patiently at the bedroom door.  She then proceeded to walk down the hallway with me to the stairs.  It wasn’t until I got to the bottom of the stairs that I realized my faithful companion was no longer with me.  I turned back to see her lying down at the top of the stairs looking at me with an expression on her face that read, “It’s about time you got up, Slacker.”

Apparently, it wasn’t so much that she needed to go outside as much as it was she didn’t appreciate my sleeping in.  She never once bothered my husband who was able to sleep in until 10!  But after 6.5 years of being with our family, she knows that my husband is not the one that will get up with her for any reason…ever.

Since I was now wide awake, I went into the kitchen and began a pot of coffee.  A few minutes later, I heard Lexi softly snoring from atop the stairs at peace with the world.  I poured myself a cup of coffee and curled up on the couch feeling a little bitter and also slightly amazed that I just got conned by my dog.

For those of you who have been hanging around here for awhile, you may know that we have a rottweiler.  Lexi is 100 (or slightly more) pounds of sweetness.  I’m pretty sure there is not one malicious bone in her body.  When my husband and I first got her six years ago, we were well aware of the stigma that comes along with her breed.  With that in mind, we took the proper precautions to make sure she didn’t fall into the stereotype.  We enrolled her in Puppy Kindergarten followed by obedience classes.  We took her to puppy daycare to acclimate her with other dogs.  Clearly this was back in the day of only one child when we had a little more money and time on our hands to do all this crazy junk!

But I have to say that it all paid off.  Yes she can look intimidating at times.  And without meaning to, she has sent more than one neighborhood child running and screaming for their lives.  But not because she was attacking them, she runs with them when they run.  Which I think could be pretty darn scary to a child.

As she has gotten older and everyone in the neighborhood knows her, I have forgotten how she may be perceived by some.  Until the other day when Kiki told me that her friend told her she wasn’t allowed over at our house because our dog eats people.

Kiki’s friend does not live in our neighborhood. She is a girl that Kiki has become friends with over this past school year.  Right before Christmas, Kiki went over to her house for a playdate.  My husband picked her up and in an attempt to make conversation with her parents, must have talked about Lexi as they are fellow dog owners.  I’m sure her breed came up because you pretty much can’t avoid that topic when talking about dogs.

Kiki must have recently asked this friend when she would like to come over to our house to play.  The girl replied that she wasn’t allowed to come because Kiki’s daddy told her parents that Lexi eats people.  I mean, there was this one time about 4 years ago when Lexi ate the Schwann’s guy that came to the door, but obviously we don’t tell that to people!

In all seriousness, I’m hoping this is just a simple case of miscommunication between Kiki’s friend and her parents.  I guess I will have to call the mother and try to clear some things up.  If she is uncomfortable with her daughter playing here, I certainly respect that.  Hopefully, I can assure her that her daughter would come back to her in one piece!

Time for What I Learned This Week sponsored by my friend Jo-Lynne from Musings of a Housewife.  Last week I learned something valuable about friendships.  This week my lesson is not as intense but still a lesson none the less.

This past Wednesday was a snow day here for us.  Granted, I still had to go to work but the kids were home from school with my husband.   I’m not sure how your neighborhood works, but around here throughout the day the kids switch houses and the group fluctuates in size depending on the daily activities of others.  Closer to dinner time, Kiki and one of her friends ended up at our house.

Kiki and her friend were upstairs playing in Kiki’s room with the dog.  They came across a small bottle of perfume that Kiki got as a gift at Christmas.  One (or both) of them had the brilliant idea to make not only themselves smell wonderful, but the poor dog as well.  Well, let me tell you, a little bit of perfume goes a long way and the amount they used sent me straight into a headache for the rest of the night.  Poor Lexi still has a faint smell about her.

What I learned this week: When your daughter and her friend shut the dog in a room with them,  your nasal passages may never be the same again.

Kiki has been telling us for a couple of weeks now that our cat, Muzbee, is pushing her off of her pillow at night.  It’s not that we weren’t believing her, it’s just not very characteristic of our cat.  I admit the cat does come into her room when we are tucking her in at night, but he is not the kind of cat to sleep on our beds.  He prefers the one end of our couch.

Imagine our surprise last night when we came upstairs to go to bed and found this:

Poor Kiki!!  If only she had parents that actually listened!!

To add to the chaos of the house, we have a dog and a cat. The vet was here this morning to give them both their annual physicals. Yes, I did say here;  she is a house call vet. I find this service wonderful. Personally, I do not the see fun in schlepping these two animals to the veterinarian’s office.  They cry the whole way there, we’re covered in fur by the time we get there, and we have to wrestle our dog into the office.  By the time we’re done, we look and smell horrible.  This vet is also a lot cheaper which is nice on our wallets!  They both received a clean bill of health although a comment was made that both of them could stand to lose a few pounds.  I will take that into consideration!

Lexi

Lexi is our five-year-old Rottweiler.  Weighing in at about 105 pounds, she definitely doesn’t go unnoticed.  She really is a giant teddy bear, though.  She even smiles when people stop by for a visit!

When I was in labor with my son, my contractions began around 10:00 at night.  I went down on the couch, so as not to disturb my sleeping hubby, and waited out my time.  Lexi stayed with me throughout the entire process.  Every time I had a contraction, I would sit up nice and straight and she would sit up with me.  When it subsided, I would lay back down and she would do the same.  It was amazing that she knew that I was going through something.

When Lexi was not even a year, my husband came into our house pretty late at night.  She was unaware of who was in our house and apparently felt the need to protect me.  She jumped up on our bed, covered me with her body, and growled this low, from-the-gut growl.  The hubs said he was pretty scared coming up the steps.  But when he came into our room and she saw who it was, her little stub was a-wagging! 

She is very loyal, lovable, and without a doubt, the best dog ever!!

Muzby

We’ve had Muzby for 2 years now.  He is very much a cuddler, which is a welcome change from our last cat.  But that’s another story for a different day.  Anyway, he is very friendly and laid-back.

One of his quirks is his fetish for wooden spoons.  As some of my neighbors can account for, he likes to pull the wooden spoons out of my utensil holder, and show them some lovin’.  When he is finished he likes to cool off by curling up in the sink.  So clearly, he has some issues but we’ll keep him!

I hope I haven’t bored everyone to tears.  I just wanted to give a little shout-out to the animals of this household!