would you look at that dog!

Matt's brother shared this picture of Dutchess and their mom. I can't believe that Dutchess tolerated the t-shirt and being held! She was a very special dog.

rider

Dutchess is a great car-rider. Matt drove her to New York so she could be with the rest of his family. They are all enjoying a little bit more time together.

Dutchess

All this time, we've spelled Dutchess' name without the "t". We just discovered this while looking at her adoption papers. Very clearly at the top it says "Dutchess". Matt kept every, single piece of paper associated with her. Seriously, every receipt for anything for her.

Above is a picture of Matt and Dutchess in Galveston on the dunes. She's as happy as a lark.
Dutchess is a very loooong dog as you can see from this backside view. This is the way Penny and Dutchess wait for Matt to come home. Just sitting, laying, starring, waiting for Matt. Matt often tapped on the window to alert them and get them excited. As Dutchess aged, she couldn't hear the taps, but reacted when Penny reacted. Both were wild and crazy when he opened the door. Dutchess still leaps over the threshold of the door despite the obvious arthritis. She's the Flying Dog! ...and had the ears to prove it.

Penny and Dutchess really had a love/hate relationship. Dutchess wanted to and often put Penny in her place by barking at her. As Dutchess aged, Penny became less annoying to her and more helpful. As I said before, Penny became her eyes and ears. Penny was promoted to being first out the door and Dutchess closely followed.
Dutchess sits on the bathmat whenever Matt's in the shower, waiting patiently. From what I've heard, she's always done this. She likes to lick the few drops of water from the tub. She likes water, but definitely does not like taking baths. She's just not that kind of dog.
Dutchess often did not look at the camera so there are not any great face shots of her...but Matt must have tricked her on this one.
Bulletproof fur. Matt always commented on her fur and claimed that she was self-cleaning, meaning that she never needed a bath. For the most part I agreed; the dirt, sand, whatever usually just dried and shook off, but sometimes I think she just needed a bath. When she was bathed she shined. ...and we unclogged the drain full of the thick hair.
Dutchess loved walking on the beach. This is just Galveston which is definitely not like the shores of Long Island, but none-the-less it was enjoyable as you can see from her smile.
Dutchess tolerated dress up. See - She's avoiding facing the camera, but honestly I don't blame her on this one. Poor pumpkin.
...and here she is as a moose.
A proud papa with his moose!
Snoozing. When Matt traveled, Dutchess slept lots. She was a bit depressed without him. The blanket was needed to collect bunches of that bulletproof fur that shed everywhere.
Matt and Dutchess played a game called Snipper Snap. Matt poked and prodded Dutchess and she playfully "fought" back and barked ferociously. She wanted Matt to chase her and he did.

Bella's Favorite Dog

There is no doubt that Duchie is Bella's favorite dog. She calls her Duchie which is pronounced very clearly and distinctly. Even Penny is called Duchie. Bella looks for Duchie in her typical sleeping spots. Duchie sleeps on the floor beside Matt's side of the bed. She sleeps in the kitchen on her mat and sometimes she sleeps on the rug in the family room. Duchie sleeps an awful lot. Bella approaches slowly as Duchie doesn't hear or see very well and tries to use her soft hands to pet Duchie. Of course Duchie isn't very fond of Bella, but, none-the-less, tolerates her well. Over the years, Duchie has become a bit senile and circles the kitchen to family room to dining room and repeat this cycle for a couple of hours each night. Click, click, click with her nails on the tile and hardwood which nearly makes us crazy! (Okay - it just makes me crazy.) She's getting her exercise to say the least. Bella chases her around so Bella is getting exercise too. The combination of the click, click, click with Bella's squeals makes Matt so happy.

For a year and a half, Matt has been making homemade dogfood for Duchie. It's a thick stew and on dog-food-making-nights, Matt eats it for dinner. (chicken, pasta, rice, green beans, molasses, olive oil and a few extra little ingredients leftover from the fridge) We've watched Duchie lose weight, despite eating the yummy, filling food. We knew that her kidneys were beginning to fail. This week she stopped eating the dog food...and nearly anything we offered her. We finally got her to eat a few Cherrios, a spinach pancake and some mashed potatoes.

I took her to the vet this morning to see what we could do to keep her going another week. We're giving fluids subcutaneously twice a day with prescriptions to decrease nausea and pain while increasing appetite. It's quite a feat to administer the fluids as you can imagine, but well worth being covered in dog fur.

Duchess means the world to Matt and his family. She's a wonderful dog and lights up when Matt comes home. She flies (leaps) to greet Matt as she is very attached to him. Matt often refers to her as the Flying Dog. Matt's dad picked her up from the dog pound sixteen and a half years ago. From what I have heard, she kept Matt's mom company when she was very sick. She helped Matt's dad through the loss of his wife, Matt's mom. Eventually, Matt and Duchess became each others' companions and happily explored Baltimore together. I've heard countless stories about Duchess at neighborhood bars and coffee shops, back when dogs were allowed. Duchess made the move to Houston with Matt and you know the rest of the story from here. She's the best dog in the world and certainly Bella's favorite dog.

furrowing eyebrows

Look at Bella's new development - she can furrow her eyebrows to express her distaste for whatever she does not like.

eggin

Bella says "eggin" all the time. "Eggin" is most often used in an exchange of things...and in a baby's life, exchange of things is constant.

I think it means 1 of 3 things:
"give me that"
"thank you"
"here you go"

post a rainy day

She's a stomping and splashing in the puddles. Here's how it goes:
waddle, waddle, waddle
stare at her watershoes (feeling the water cover her toes)
turn around
clap and say "yea"
run fast to really make ripples and splashes

Beach Beauty

Here's our little beach beauty at Surfside Beach. John, Ashley, Jack and the rest of us drove down to the beach for the Fourth of July. It was a nice visit while cooking out and eating snacks. The cold watermelon was a hit with everyone! It's unfortunate that Galveston beaches are muddy because it could be so much prettier with white, granule-like sand...that's easier to brush off.

We arrived home, bathed and then went right back outside to play with beach toys in the back yard with the water hose. Later, we watched the fireworks on tv, in bed, in the air conditioning and that was okay with me. Maybe next year we'll spin around outside with sparklers to celebrate.

What do you get?

What do you get when you add a dog to a telephone pole?

A tarred dog. It reminds me of Matt's favorite movie quote from The Hangover "...he was a ruhtard." Penny was definitely ruhtarred ...or retarded.

Creosote is hard to remove, but not with scissors. Poor Penny got a hair cut.