Giving the Border Collies some love, though I'm sure they would be satisfied with a dog treat instead.

I often make it through my day not worrying about my dogs much (I feel absolutely awful admitting that out in internet world). I'm happy to say that we have trained to very well adjusted and independent dogs who don't want for much. The similarities between raising a puppy and raising a kiddo are really quite astounding. No doubt any breed can remind you of a child, but I'm pretty sure that our kiddos are alive today because our pups trained us so well. (They also rarely cried, which I think is why we thought we could handle parenthood...joke was on us. Guess they really are the smartest breed!)

When Baxter was a puppy he would let us know that he was hungry by scraping his dish. What a clever little guy, we thought. After having two kiddos,  I am now thankful that he scraped on a bowl instead of SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF HIS FUCKING LUNGS to let me know that he was hungry. He also never threw food on the floor, spit up his partially digested dishes, or threw temper tantrums when he didn't get the desired food choice. He did however, separate into two piles the pieces of kibble he liked (non-existent pile) and the pieces he did not (very large pile of wasted money). All little funny tricks that we never paid much mind to. Now, two kiddos into this life, we often comment on how both of our dogs would be dead had we not been reminded that they had not been fed (this is also why we have no indoor plants).

Binkley, our non-communicator, has only one real job (well two, if you count going crazy over the fact that her herd - the kiddos - won't stay in place like she 'stares' them to) and that would be letting us know when she has to go to the bathroom. Silly to think, right? I'm pretty sure that if she didn't come up to me at the end of the night and then run to SleepySven and then run to me about a hundred times, she would make more messes to clean up. But let me be honest, it takes about 10-15 tries at this before the thought process starts that she may need to go out. No joke. We've been at this game for 8 years now and I still don't pick up on it until after she is panting from all the back and forth. I think the whites in her eyes are tinted a slight yellow color because of my lack of awareness. I am sure she hangs out by herself a lot because my intellect does not match up to hers. Clearly the smarter species in her yellow eyes is not the two-legged kind.

Obviously, these are not unique traits to my dogs. But I thought that I would give them a brief shout-out tonight for being such wonderful companions and taking care of themselves for the past three years with very little complaint. Seems that a scratch on the ass and a few dog treats thrown their way is enough to keep the wet kisses coming. They are our first kids, relegated to the bottom of the Family Totem Pole, and we love them unconditionally (even though the 'please take us home they are monsters' look they give our guests does not go unnoticed).