Headed Home

My brother Ryan left for his third deployment in early October.  Mike and I offered to help out by taking his two dogs for his 9 month deployment.  In the beginning things were a little crazy, the dogs came to stay about 2 weeks before the wedding and we already have two dogs of our own.  My brother has a huge German Shepherd and a tiny Yorkie.  I always thought we had a pretty big size difference with our dogs, a Cairn Terrier and a Boxer, but the size difference between his dogs is laughable.   It was an interesting first two weeks with the dogs try to sort out the order of the pack and watching the interesting dynamics develop between the four of them.

I think Mike has described the situation perfectly:  90% of the time having 4 dogs is not that much different than having 2 dogs, the other 10% of the time it really sucks. 

Sleeping falls into the later category.  We have a queen size bed and our two dogs have always slept with us.  Adding one tiny terrier was not an issue and my brother assured me that Mishka always slept on the floor.  Which was a relief because she is a big dog.  However, after about 3 nights Mishka decided she wanted in on the action and has been sleeping at the foot of our bed ever since.  It's been an adjustment to say the least.  

Not sure where I'm supposed to sleep here?

The evenings when we get home from work have been great.   Laila and Mishka play tug or war and chase each other around the house which relieves some of the guilt we have from not being able to do evening walks because it is dark and cold by the time we get home from work.  Pecan sometimes joins in on the action which has been hilarious to watch.  He apparently has no idea that he is only about 4lbs and the big dogs seem to humor him when they play 3 way tug of war.

As much as an adjustment it has all been, we have really enjoyed the last few months with the dogs.  It has been chaotic at times and has definitely kept us on our feet but we really are going to miss them when they leave in a little less than two weeks.  My brother's deployment is ending early and my mom is picking the dogs up for their drive home to North Carolina in the middle of the month.  It will be bittersweet to say goodbye and we're already trying to plan a weekend trip down to visit my brother and the dogs once he is home and reacquainted.  For now we are just trying to enjoy the last two weeks with the dogs and ignore the little frustrations that come along with 4 dogs in one house.  I'm also making a mental note to try to get some decent, not iPhone pictures before they head back home.

Mishka decided to help Garrett with his rainbow loom project