Isn't She Lovely... Isn't She Wonderful!?

Sunday we went for a walk to the dog park... Thatcher is doing better and better on his lead... BIG thanks to Michelle!! So at the dog park Thatch is extremely selective in who he plays with! If he doesn't want to play with another dog he will just stand there and stare at them... this makes people ask "Is your dog friendly... because if he's not friendly then you don't need to bring him here." Everybody becomes an investigator when you go to the dog park... it's almost more trouble than it's worth! Today this boy who was about 12 or 13 stopped me at the gate and played investigator... i wanted to make Thatcher poop on him... but we all know that's not gonna happen! To make matters worse... this little boy was one of those owners who is constantly yelling at their dog... i mean for Pete's sake... you bring your dog to the park to let them off their leash to play.... not so you can control them and act like this is the perfect training environment... you're just annoying... even your dog thinks so!!! Anyway, so after we got home Thatcher went in the kitchen and plopped himself down on the tiles and laid there the whole afternoon like a lazy boy!

Monday I walked around out in public with my pants unzipped... Thatcher didn't even bother to say anything.

Tuesday I realized that my little baby isn't a baby anymore... body wise, he's at his awkward teenage phase and attitude wise he's a cross between a teenager and a 2 year old.... just constantly throwing tantrums. Guess I'm getting what I gave when I was younger. :/

*His younger, sweeter years*


Wednesday Thatcher had a sniff of wine and decided that he needed a drink... at 9 months old he wants wine! What a monster! I saw lightning bugs outside but Thatcher was too busy seeing how high he could jump to pay them any attention. BUUUUUTTT He does have this fascination with bugs... every time we're inside he jumps against the sliding doors when he sees a tiny little bug fly by. He used to want to be a dishwasher when he grew up... but maybe he changed his mind and now wants to be an entomologist!! YES! Thatcher's gonna be makin' the big bucks for his mommy!

*The perfect bug watching spot*


Thursday I noticed that Thatcher needs braces!!! He has crazy teeth just like his mommy!

*You can kind of see his crazy teeth here*

Friday, today, I heard a bunch of jangling so I turned around to see what it was.... It was Thatcher... chasing a bug that was in our apartment... he got it in his mouth and would flip it up in the air... just like he did with his AFLAC duck before he ripped it's face off!!! When it landed he dug a hole in the carpet for it to sit... then he picked it up again and flung it through the air! On closer inspection... the "bug" ended up being a cherry pit. Hahaha! We're tired today... and when I say "we" what I mean is "ME"... I'm tired! SOMEBODY... not naming any names... was having crazy puppy dreams last night and kept kicking the wall of his crate and scratching his talons on the plastic floor and whimpering. Oh and this nameless individual has come up with a new way to do his hair before he goes to sleep at night so it will look perfect for the next day.

*When I see him like this Stevie Wonder's "Isn't she lovely" comes on in my head"*

Killer Dogs and Such..

This weekend Thatcher started with his walker, Michelle. He's been soooo great now... no more accidents in the house and he's less hyper now that he's able to get some energy out during the afternoon. Complete 180!

Saturday morning I was in my room and Thatcher was in his crate. I was changing and I guess Thatch didn't like what I had on because he turned his head to the side and did a growl/wimper! A dog with fashion sense!

Tuesday I somehow managed to trick Thatcher into taking his pills! I WIN! Score... Thatcher:109430820938, Me: 1
Also on Tuesday... took Thatch for a walk and came across this teenage girl who was already acting afraid of Thatcher.... so she stayed like 10 feet back and asked what kind of dog Thatcher was and I told her Boxer... and he took a step towards her and she got all scared and started to run... So i TRIED to tell her that he just wanted to smell her, but she kept going, so I said, "Ok so he's really not a Boxer, he's really a breed that eats humans for lunch and that's why I brought him out in public in the middle of the afternoon when I knew you kids would be getting out of school!!!" People are so dog ignorant sometimes it's irritating. I mean seriously... Thatcher walked towards her smiling and wagging not only his tail, but his whole rear end and the stupid girl thought he was going to attack her. When we're out on walks or runs in the trails people avoid us like the black plague!!! It's rather ridiculous!

*How can you think a face like THIS would hurt you!?*

Friday night Thatcher took all his aggression/energy out on this pine tree in front of our apartment. He jumped toward it like it was his opponent in the boxing ring and took a swipe at it with his right paw... and the next hop forward he swiped with the left and bit some little pine needles off the lowest branch and then realized that wasn't the smartest thing because he now had a mouth full of pine needles. He looked like he'd been attacked by a porcupine... in the face!!! THEEEEENNNN... he saw a cute little mini terrier (female) and decided he LOOOOOVED her. So what did he do??? Well he did his famous trick... he went crazy and decided to do a flip OVER his leash and then spin around in circles with his butt really low to the ground! Like THAT's gonna get her attention! Haha. Crazy little man.


*Thatcher when he actually WAS a little man*

It's as easy as A,B,C!

Soooo Thatcher had to go back to the basics of puppy training and re-learn his manners, etc. He seems to be doing a lot better with his potty training and his manners. Fewer accidents in the house = a happy mama! Sunday I ran my 2nd half marathon... so does that mean technically I've ran a full marathon!? I improved my time by 45 minutes... so that's pretty awesome.... but then again, i've got an awesome support group there! When I got up that next day and had to walk all stiff legged Thatcher looked at me with his head cocked to the side and was trying to figure out if this was some sort of new game we were playing! Luckily in his puppy pre-school days he's re-learning to not jump up on people and so I was able to do my cripple walk in peace!!!

Monday Booty had a vet appointment to get blood drawn for his heart-worm test since we missed a few doses while I was gone to school. Needless to say, he didn't really enjoy that much. But the best part is... when we got there this lady had her little min-pin named Bevo there and Thatcher (aka Booty boo) was sooooo interested in him. Every time Thatch went over to little Bevo he would try and slap him in the face kind of like, "Hey friend! What's up!?" But Bevo thought that HE was the bigger dog and so he would jump up like a wild stallion... I was waiting for him to neigh... but no such luck! So when Booty finally decided he was gonna be nice i let him crawl over there to say hi to Bevo one last time and Thatcher gets really low so he's not a threat to Bevo and was trying to sniff him and what does Bevo do?? Of course, he starts humping Thatcher's head!!! But the worst part is... Thatcher didn't even mind... I don't think he even realized that's what was happening!!! Guess he'll learn that's not the cool thing to do!

So last week I told y'all about how Thatcher stayed with a co-worker while I was gone to NC... Well I have a few photos of Thatcher and his new BFF Bruce! They're sooo cute together!

*Thatcher (on the right) secretly trying to entangle Bruce with his cord! What a little schemer!!"


Also... I guess SGT Snader took them to do "Man stuff"... whatever that means! So this is the 3 of them doing "man stuff!"

*Thatcher has the red lead SGT Snader is obviously in the middle and Bruce has the green lead*

LT... there's 2 of us

So This past weekend I decided to go on a road trip to NC which meant that Thatcher had to stay here with a co-worker who also has a boxer that is around Thatcher's age. This is where Thatcher earned his latest nickname... LT (Little Terror). Isn't that horrible!? So now everybody at work makes comments about how Thatcher is baaaaaad... just like his mama! Haha.

Y'all are never gonna guess what he managed to do Monday... we were outside so he could potty before being crated for the night and he went #2 and then he walked away and while I was bending over to bag it he did the little thing dogs do where they use their back legs and kick dirt out from them... and every time he does this it reminds me of someone revving their engine like they're ready to go.... so he kicked this dirt up... RIGHT IN MY FACE... like bagging his poop wasn't bad enough, now he's gonna throw dirt in my face and peel out too!!! Wow, my life is awesome (major sarcasm)!!!!!!!

So next Monday we have an appointment with our potential dog walking company and each day until then I'm giving Thatch the pep talk and telling him that he has to be good and trick her just like he tricked me when i picked him out that fateful day! He's a pretty good little actor, so we'll see if she can pull the wool over the interviewers eyes!

*This is him pretending to be a caterpillar!*

Wednesday we had a good day... Thatcher went potty outside and had no accidents inside... I didn't say he wasn't a monster still!!! Oh and I just realized that when Thatcher goes pee... he doesn't hike his leg like a normal big boy does... instead he gets really low like he's about to scale a wall... Spiderman style!!! What can I say?! The kid's got style!

Friday Amanda and I went for a run to the dog park. Remember how I said that Thatcher has this strange infatuation with water and the bathtub?! Well they have kiddy pools at the dog park and since it's summer the other dogs LOVE to jump in and lay down and splash around. Thatcher stood there on the edge and it looked as if he were saying, "Hey! I can do that.... we have a bathtub full of water at home... WAIT! How did all that water get in there already!?" But then he wouldn't even try to climb in the pool.... instead, he turned into a full blown diva and when the dogs would get in he would turn his nose up at them and oh good laaaaaawd if they splashed him! He's a strange one alright! He definitely has multiple sides to him which keeps things interesting! This is one side below... the fake angel!!!! Haha.


"This is Thatcher trying to pretend like he didn't do something bad..."

What a week

Monday, got stuck by a contaminated needle.... had to have bloodwork done and now have to be followed/studied by occupational health for a year. Thatcher didn't really care and he proceeded to show me by relentless attacks. I'm sure all of this will turn out fine so no need to worry... just follow Thatcher's lead! LOL.

Did I ever mention that, just like any kid, Thatcher thinks it's AWESOME to jump off the bed and do crazy things!? One night I was sorting laundry in my bedroom and I emptied the hampers out on the floor and began to separate everything into their correct piles. Well some things could have gone either way... a gray shirt could have gone with neutrals or it could have gone with darks. So I put it in one pile and then decide it would make more sense to wash it in the other, so I moved it to the other pile. Thatcher is standing on the bed hovering over me the whole time watching and judging me with his judging eyes!! He decided he doesn't like that final pile i chose for the gray shirt so he does a flip off the bed and lands on the shirt just as I'm moving it back to the original pile! I guess he doesn't want me to be indecisive because apparently he knows how to do laundry WAAAAAY better than I do! OH... and he also has this new annoying/funny habit (depends on what type of day i've had). We have the wall of windows/sliding door so we have the ceiling to floor vertical blinds that slide open. Well Thatcher has just recently started this thing where when I'm not paying enough attention to him he will start at one end and get behind the blinds and then walk between the blinds and the glass... swishing his hips so he clanks ALL the blinds together and into the glass. He thinks it's just the best thing EVER! Sometimes I laugh, but sometimes if I'm on the phone with the bank or someone important it just irritates me because my desk sits right at the end of the blinds. Haha... I can honestly say there's never a boring moment with Beastley!

*Thatcher trying to take control... even as a baby puppy*


Sometimes I think Thatcher must be having crazy dreams. It'll be completely silent and all of the sudden i'll hear his cage slam into the wall, but when I look over his eyes are closed and he's lying on his side, but his little legs are spinning around like windmills about to come unhinged and he's whimpering... must be getting passed by Jeff Gordon!!! Sometimes he just smiles in his sleep (like below).

*Thatcher on the trip from OK to DC*


Thursday night I took Thatcher out for his potty break before bedtime and we were walking up the stairs to go outside and this little boy had just walked in and was standing on the landing and he saw Thatcher and screamed and backed himself into the corner and was still screaming, "OH NO, OH NO!!! PLEASE DON'T LET YOUR DOG GET ME!!" He acted like Thatcher was foaming at the mouth and had razors and dirty needles shooting out of him or something!!! I tried to reassure the kid by telling him Thatcher was friendly, but the brat would NOT stop screaming so I told him he better run as fast as he could! LOL Is that terrible of me!? I mean come on... Thatcher was wiggling from head to toe and was all hunkered down for the boy to pet him but the little boy was a baby about it all so I got irritated. Oh well. :/

The best thing ever is when Thatcher gets really excited and starts making his laps around our tiny apartment. Below is a video demonstration... I just caught the tail end of it because my camera was slow to start. This episode is very mild compared to what he usually does when he gets worked up. Back in Oklahoma we call this the Nascar lap. Usually Thatcher is running so hard that when he goes into the turn around the top of the couch his butt hits the wall and shakes the mirror. Thursday (in video below) shortly after I stopped filming Thatcher started again and missed clearing the table and hit the leg of it and moved it about 3 feet away from where it originally sat. Thank God nothing was broken (the table OR Thatcher)! I guess it's moments like these that make it all worth while because he can make me laugh!


*Thatcher's tryout for a Nascar slot*