In this weeks news...

Soooo... I'm pretty sure my neighbors thinks my dogs name is "Damn it" ... because every time he does something bad I yell, "Damn it, get over here!" Thatcher has a way of being a clown so that even when I'm extremely mad at him for being horrible... I can't be because I just want to laugh. He's lucky for that! He does this thing when he gets excited... he bucks around like a wild broncho! Guess he's just representing for UCO... Go Bronchos!!! Speaking of UCO... this is where he got his name. When I was in college and did ROTC we had our classes in Thatcher Hall. Now, y'all can make fun of me and call me a sentimental silly head (or whatever it is kids are saying now days) but ROTC was good for me and got me started in my military career. Likewise... Thatcher Dean got me started in my life in the tri-state area. Oh and he has a first, middle and last name because that is what's required when you have an "amazing specimen" like him and he has to be registered with AKC.

Ok so Thatcher really loves his toys. He could play by himself for hours... i think this is also why he has "only child syndrome" aka "OCS." I am, indeed, a self-diagnoser... I always think "OMG I have all the signs and symptoms for that... I've definitely got _______" It almost always turns out to be a bad case of overactive imagination! So yes, OCS can be a horrible thing, but it can also be good! It's good when he can entertain himself, but it's bad because I have no other babies to divide my attention between, so SOMETIMES Thatcher goes straight into Snickers Diva mode!!! If he had thumbs to snap his fingers... please believe he would!


*Even as a baby Thatcher was already trying out SD mode!*


My apartment always looks like a truck full of dog toys exploded right in my living room/dining room... well actually every room but mine! Thatcher isn't allowed in there because one day he decided to wear a pair of my unmentionables around like a necklace. Beastly has this way of slinging his toys around and then "accidentally" throwing them either off into some random place, or right at me. For example... he has this little stuffed AFLAC duck that he adores and when he plays with the duck i always here "Aflac, Aflac, AFLAAAAAAAC" as the poor dear is being thrown down the dark hallway and Thatcher pretends to be confused as to what just happend! He's something else (Thatcher, not the duck). And while we're talking about Thatcher throwing things... while mom and I were driving from OKC to DC we stopped half way and stayed in a hotel. I was too tired to unload the crate off the top of the car so I thoooouuuuught it would be ok and Thatcher would be a good little boy and sleep on the floor with the big fat chew bone i bought him. How's THAT for a joke?! First he got up on moms bed, but she was sound asleep (snoring at a much softer volume than Thatcher) so he decided since he saw the whites of my eyes that he'd better come over to my bed and see what I was doing. So he came over and smashed around on my guts for a while before i threw his bone on the floor and told him to get down and go to sleep. Bahahahaha... that's exactly what he did... he laughed in my face... then he schemed up a plan. He laid down for a few minutes (until i got all comfy in my bed) and then he flipped his huge bone up in the air and it busted me in the face... THEEEENNNN he decided that would be the perfect time to pounce... so he got on the bed and did this little double bounce action (kinda like when you were a kid on the trampoline)... he waited until half of my body was airborne and then right as I landed he bounced again so i would get whiplash!!! I was shocked right outta my half-sleep stupor!!! He continued his horrible little antics until about 0430 when he got tired of playing games and beating me up and he went to bed. Guess who was in her bed all nice and snug like a bug in a rug!??!!? Hint: It wasn't THIIIIISSSS girl!!!

As long as we're on the topic of strange things Thatcher does... let's talk about how he doesn't want to play with the other dogs at the dog park when we go. All he wants to do is sit and talk with the humans. In fact, I don't think that he knows he's a dog! This could turn out very interesting! You know who he reminds me of? The dog off of "Marley and Me"!!! He's so rotten, but i can't help but love him.

Found a gray hair Sunday... told Thatcher it was a blonde highlight from the sun... he played along. :/
Found a gray hair on Thatcher... got depressed because he's 8months old and I'm 24... went home and self-loathed. :(
Also on Sunday, Thatcher found yet ANOTHER girlfriend at the dog park and was mad when I made him leave. How is it that he has all the luck!?

Thatcher has started doing things that remind me of small children. His bedtime is anywhere from 2000-2200 depending on how he's acting and how tired I am. So Wednesday night he was standing on the love seat playing with a toy and i walked over and said, "Bedtiiiiiime!" and grabbed his collar and he immediately went limp and fell on the couch and started acting all sweet! I couldn't get him to stand up so I had to gently pull him off the couch and he was still limp on the floor looking up at me with his bat ears out and his big mouth full of tiny crooked teeth gaggling open as if he were saying, "Loooook how good I'm acting now... 20 more minutes mom, pleeeeeeaaaase!" So i try everything from picking him up to rolling him around to dragging him by his meaty little legs to get him to stand up... my efforts are finally rewarded and he walks back to his bedroom only to jump on the guest bed and go limp again! He thinks, for some reason, that if he's up there it's the "safe zone" and I can't get him! HAHAHAHA! Little does he know... i own EVERYTHING in this apartment so he's not ever safe from me!!! It's so hard to discipline him when he's acting silly and making me laugh.. just like it is with a child.


*Thatcher passed out after a nice long run (this is sorta how he looks when he goes limp)*


He also does this thing where he'll bring whatever toy/rawhide he's interested in at that exact moment and he'll place it on your foot while he chews on it... this way if he "accidentally" starts chewing on your foot then it's tooooootally not his fault because you should've moved your foot! He only THINKS he's being sneaky! AAANNNDDD when you tell him to put blue bunny in your hand (so you can throw it for him to fetch) he doesn't do it... INSTEAD, he keeps blue bunny in his mouth and when you put your hand out and say give me blue bunny he places his hand in yours (perhaps he's offering a truce?)!!!!

I wanted to put this out there (even though it's kinda strange)... but it makes me feel good and comfortable and at home when I see Thatcher asleep and hear him snoring. It's kinda like having an ugly baby... wait, no... scratch that.... definitely not a good analogy because nothing about Thatcher is ugly. Anyway, I can't think of a good analogy... but it's been a long week, and Thatcher now has a mommy who is chemo certified.... I'm a real oncology nurse now!!!! So that about sums it up for this week. Thatcher sends his love. Enjoy! :)