I realize more and more that I don't find myself wanting to run to the computer to write about something crazy that Brutus has done, and honestly, that's probably a good thing. When we first welcomed Brute into our family, it seemed like everything he did was kind of naughty or crazy, and all I wanted to do was tell people about it, but life has been pretty "normal".
Normal for Brutus seems to consist of hanging out with me until I take out my camera, and then running down to his crate to hide until he's sure that it's put away for the day. I'm not sure that he'll ever get used to having his picture taken again, which is a huge bummer, because personally I think he's a pretty handsome guy!
The one kind of sad thing that happened to Brutus happened last Thursday night. Don and I were eating dinner, and normally Brutus plants himself just outside of the kitchen and waits until we're done eating. He's figured out that if he waits patiently, he's more apt to get to lick the plates. Well, on Thursday, he came upstairs and sat by the kitchen entry and kind of hung his head. We talked to him a little bit, and he just turned his head like he was all sad. We went on eating our dinner, and all of a sudden I heard this noise that sounded like one of the cats was throwing up a fur ball, times ten. Brutus was sick. I couldn't bare the thought of cleaning it up until we were done eating, because then I would throw up too, so we just kept on with dinner, and pretty soon I heard him again. That ended dinner. Yuck. Don decided it was time to go run some errands, and I decided it was time to get the carpet shampooer out.
Poor Brutus. He must not have gotten sick much before we adopted him, because he seemed very freaked out about it. He walked up to his "pile" very cautiously and smelled it, acting like he was afraid that it was going to jump out and bite him! Before Don left, he calmed him down and put a quilt on our bed and got him settled there. At first I wasn't sure that was such a great idea, but thankfully he didn't get sick again. When I went downstairs to get the carpet cleaner, there was an enormous pile of vomit down there. No wonder he came upstairs looking all sad. The poor thing had gotten sick already and was probably trying to tell us that he didn't feel good.
So, I spent the next hour cleaning the carpet upstairs, and I had to clean the whole family room downstairs because if you only clean an area of that carpet, it leaves a mark, so you have to clean the whole floor. The next morning I got up to let Brutus out to go potty, and he literally tip toed down the stairs, walked very slowly toward where the vomit was and smelled all over. He was scared that the vomit was still there. Hopefully that won't happen again anytime soon!
Yesterday Andrew showed up for a wonderful unexpected visit, and when Don and Brutus got home from the lake (I had stayed home with a headache) Brutus figured out Andrew was here and came running in to the bedroom where we were watching TV to say hello. He literally has no idea how big he is. He jumped up on the bed and did one of those somersaults in to Andrew's lap that says "look how cute I am, rub my belly". When you have a seventy-five pound dog doing a somersault in to your lap, it can be a bit overwhelming! He's such a goof. Andrew got lots of hugs and love, which ended up giving him a couple scratches on his neck. Brutus is so gentle, but he just doesn't have a clue that he's big and has claws!
So, that's about it on the Brutus front. He seems to be happy and settled. I'm sure that as spring rolls around and it starts to get warmer outside, he'll be back to his normal mischief. :)
Normal for Brutus seems to consist of hanging out with me until I take out my camera, and then running down to his crate to hide until he's sure that it's put away for the day. I'm not sure that he'll ever get used to having his picture taken again, which is a huge bummer, because personally I think he's a pretty handsome guy!
The one kind of sad thing that happened to Brutus happened last Thursday night. Don and I were eating dinner, and normally Brutus plants himself just outside of the kitchen and waits until we're done eating. He's figured out that if he waits patiently, he's more apt to get to lick the plates. Well, on Thursday, he came upstairs and sat by the kitchen entry and kind of hung his head. We talked to him a little bit, and he just turned his head like he was all sad. We went on eating our dinner, and all of a sudden I heard this noise that sounded like one of the cats was throwing up a fur ball, times ten. Brutus was sick. I couldn't bare the thought of cleaning it up until we were done eating, because then I would throw up too, so we just kept on with dinner, and pretty soon I heard him again. That ended dinner. Yuck. Don decided it was time to go run some errands, and I decided it was time to get the carpet shampooer out.
Poor Brutus. He must not have gotten sick much before we adopted him, because he seemed very freaked out about it. He walked up to his "pile" very cautiously and smelled it, acting like he was afraid that it was going to jump out and bite him! Before Don left, he calmed him down and put a quilt on our bed and got him settled there. At first I wasn't sure that was such a great idea, but thankfully he didn't get sick again. When I went downstairs to get the carpet cleaner, there was an enormous pile of vomit down there. No wonder he came upstairs looking all sad. The poor thing had gotten sick already and was probably trying to tell us that he didn't feel good.
So, I spent the next hour cleaning the carpet upstairs, and I had to clean the whole family room downstairs because if you only clean an area of that carpet, it leaves a mark, so you have to clean the whole floor. The next morning I got up to let Brutus out to go potty, and he literally tip toed down the stairs, walked very slowly toward where the vomit was and smelled all over. He was scared that the vomit was still there. Hopefully that won't happen again anytime soon!
Yesterday Andrew showed up for a wonderful unexpected visit, and when Don and Brutus got home from the lake (I had stayed home with a headache) Brutus figured out Andrew was here and came running in to the bedroom where we were watching TV to say hello. He literally has no idea how big he is. He jumped up on the bed and did one of those somersaults in to Andrew's lap that says "look how cute I am, rub my belly". When you have a seventy-five pound dog doing a somersault in to your lap, it can be a bit overwhelming! He's such a goof. Andrew got lots of hugs and love, which ended up giving him a couple scratches on his neck. Brutus is so gentle, but he just doesn't have a clue that he's big and has claws!
So, that's about it on the Brutus front. He seems to be happy and settled. I'm sure that as spring rolls around and it starts to get warmer outside, he'll be back to his normal mischief. :)