Jack vs. the Balloon

 Jack was growling at the top of the stairs until Vivian went to investigate. There was a balloon floating in front of the door that I guess he mistook for an intruder. So he refused to come downstairs.

Jack and the Box

After Sam was told multiple times to clean up the Cheeze It box, Jack found it and decided to eat the leftovers. Of course, Sam filmed it before rescuing him and then set it to music.

Jack's Birthday/Anniversary Party

It's been a year since Jack came to live with us, so the kids' had a celebration and our neighbor humored us and brought Jack's friend Rudy over.

Rudy not feeling thrilled about his party hat.

Jack not being impressed by us singing "Happy Birthday" to him.

The girls blowing out the candles.

 

Jack playing with his new "hamburger" present.

Jack's Adventure

Jack went on a long adventure yesterday when we all left the house. We went to get ice-cream and I dropped Sam and Chris back off at the house to take the girls onto the park. When they got in, the kitchen door was open and Jack was no where to be found.

I arrived back from the park to find our neighbor pacing up and down the street looking for Jack. Chris and Sam were out combing the neighborhood, so I put a cranky Lanie in the stroller and set out with her and Vivian.  Of course by that time Jack was long gone. We checked various areas he might explore, including the park where dogs go to play.

Lanie whimpered occasionally, "I want my Jack.  I want to see him."
Vivian plodded along calling for him and asked sporadic questions and made observations.
"So maybe he'll come back today.  Maybe tomorrow."
"Or maybe we should just get a different dog. What do you think?"
She did point several times across a busy street and said, "we should check over there."
One side of the street is the town we live in, the other side of the street is the neighboring town.
We continued on our way and I explained that we were not getting a different dog.

Eventually everyone returned home and Chris made dinner while the children made Lost Dog signs.  I contacted a few people in the neighborhood to see if they had seen him or knew of anyone who had. I posted on a town Facebook page.  No success. After dinner I called our town police department, but they had no reports of a found dog. After a moment, I called the police department of the neighboring town. They had a report of a dog that had been found who matched Jack's description.  The people who had found him brought him in and Chris and two of the kids went to pick him up. I did have a few thoughts that perhaps this was not the same dog, but they came home with Jack. Who was not perturbed by being out with another family for hours.  Nor had he been particularly impressed to be picked up by Chris and the kids. They were relieved to have him home.

Vivian's sign.

A rock in the garden Vivian drew for Jack.

Our paving stone that is now decorated for Jack.

Since then he has made every possible attempt to leave the house again.

Jack's Spring Cut

And he looks like a whole new dog.  The kids were so excited to see him when they got home from school yesterday.

before the cut

Jack's excitement at the park

This dog has more energy than the kids sometimes.  He runs and runs and then comes home and sleeps for hours.

Walking Jack

Jack got a new leash, which the kids call the "cowboy leash," because it looks like a lasso.  Sam and Vivian were showing it to Jack the other day and telling him about it.  When they left the room, Lanie apparently took it upon herself to put it on him and walk him around the kitchen, saying, "Jack look!  You're a cowboy dog! Good boy, good boy."

First snow

The first snow the kids can play in this year, which is really not anything to speak of, except that we haven't had snow to play in.   Meanwhile, I thought it was adorable when Sam was telling Jack, "boy, your first snow storm is coming! Are you excited?" and we told Sam that we think Jack saw snow last year.  However, after Jack's reaction, he may not have.  He was more hyper than the kids and has been whining to go out all day.  As soon as he comes in he's ready to go back out.

It's really wet and heavy now after raining all day, but they want to be out anyway.

Heading to get donuts.

Casualty of a plow.

Playing King of the Mountain.

Digging Dog

He does this a few times a day on various couches or seats.  I guess he thinks he buried something precious and needs to find it.

Jack's Attire

Until we can rectify the situation, Jack is wearing Sam's old shirts.  Good to have extra old clothes on hand occasionally.

Jack's Haircut

It was getting to the point where Jack possibly couldn't see through his fur so I booked him an appointment at local groomer. 

He returned looking like a whole different dog.  I might have thought he was a different dog until he pooped on the floor, perhaps to punish us for taking him, perhaps to prove it was really him.

When Lanie woke up from her nap she was sitting on the couch with him and I asked her where Jack was.
"Oh, he at store getting a hair-cut."
"Oh," I said, "who's that?"
She regarded Jack, "a doggie."
"What doggie?" I asked.
"Dis doggie momma."
"Is it Jack?" I asked.
"No, this is different doggie."  Not at all perturbed that she was hanging out with a strange dog in the living room.

Poor little patchy guy, now we need to find him a doggie sweater and jacket.  Vivian keeps wrapping him in blankets.

Jack and the Doll

 It appeared innocent and cuddly, but he likes to chew up plastic and cuddly toys.  Lanie was not thrilled.

And with the dog comes new adventures

So Jack came from a previous owner who supposedly let her nine (+) dogs use doggie pads as bathrooms inside the house.  He sees a rug and thinks it's a great spot to pee or poop.  Particularly the rugs that I like the most, which happen to be blue and white, which are the colors of the doggy pads.  Or maybe he just knows they are my favorite rugs...

The kids are currently the ones cleaning it up, on the condition that they are the ones who want the dog.  They are so far pretty good and agreeable about it, but sometimes a dispute ensues.  Meanwhile Lanie thinks that it's probably good fun to clean up (we won't let her because no one wants a bigger mess).  She will walk around outside in the yard with a poop bag on her hand picking up rocks and twigs, yelling, "Oh! Disgusting!"

Starting our day one morning recently.  They're arguing about who picks up what size piece.

And then there was a dog

This guy came home from the MSPCA two days before school ended.  He and Vivian have a good bond.  The poor dog has been through a ton of names, but I think we're settled on Jack.  He came to us as Timmy, and has since been called: Calvin, Hobbes, Snowy, Dusty, Buddy, Tim, Whitey, Pookie (by default, he looks like a family dog and Lanie thought he was Pookie for a few days), Doggy, and a few other names, but he has consistently (more or less), been Jack for about a week now.  He's a 1.5 year old Maltese and we are working on house training him.  He and Lanie are both working on bathroom skills.