We Should Have Named Him Marley

Steven and I had a revelation last night – Bauer (our one-year-old, male boxer) is Marley – yes Marley – the mischievous lab from “Marley & Me”.

Yesterday after work, I decided to go for a run and take one of the dogs with me. Since it is impossible for me to run both dogs at the same time – deciding which dog gets to come for the run is always a difficult process at our house. As soon as they see me put on my running shoes & grab my IPod – they both bolt to the door and start whining incessantly. I feel so guilty leaving one dog behind (If Steven would get off his lazy bottom and run one of the dogs – we wouldn’t have this problem!), but there is no way that I can run two 70 lb dogs at the same time.
So last night, Dixie got to go for a run. We ran hard for a solid 35 minutes. Numerous times along the way Dixie tried to lie down. She was tired and had obviously had enough. As we were slowing down to turn into our neighborhood, we saw Bauer and Steven coming to meet us. Bauer became so excited to see Dixie that he literally wiggled himself out of his collar and bolted into the street!!!! I was already feeling light headed from the run – but when I saw all the cars coming I almost threw up. The thought of Bauer being run over brought immediate tears to my eyes and I almost started hyperventilating. Thankfully, Steven was able to get him back on his leash without any damage. Although once we knew he was safe – we both wanted to kill him for acting out!As we finish the walk back to the house, Bauer is clearly thrilled to be walking along side Dixie. Steven opened the garage door and let both dogs off their leashes to send them into the house – when Bauer saw the neighbor’s cat. I swear to you, I have never seen a dog run as fast as Bauer did after that cat. Of course the cat was hissing and pitching a fit and immediately ran up into a tree. Bauer refused to come when called, and Steven and I had to circle around a patch of trees and bushes trying to trick Bauer into coming into the house. Apparently we were making a huge fuss for everyone to see because about 10 minutes later one of the neighbors actually came running outside with a slice of cheese to help us. Finally Steven caught the dog and scooped him up like a football dragging him back to the house. Of course Bauer had no idea why he was in trouble and refused to “stay” or “sit” when we returned to the house. Dixie was still too exhausted from her run to care anything about why Bauer was in trouble – she did however seem quite pleased to be the “good girl” for the rest of the evening.

It’s a good thing that dog is cute – otherwise we would trade him in!