Favorite Emme Photo, Number 14

Emme in the kitchen.

Foot Dog

Emme is such a love sponge that she loves to be touched anywhere on her body. She loves me to rub her belly, pat her head, stroke her back, or tickle her ears. It is all good. She loves to be touched with any part of my body, even my feet. She especially loves when I have on PJs and bare feet. I rub her with my feet and she is delighted, even sneaking in a lick or two occasionally. She loves to lick toes.

Rudy on the other hand is very specific about how he is touched and with what. He freaks out if you touch him with your foot, even accidentally. If he is lying near my feet and I change positions and touch him with a bare foot, sock foot, or shoe, he quickly hops up and moves. Being rubbed by someone's foot is not for him. We got Rudy when he was three years old and don't know what his early experiences where with feet. We had no indication that he was abused, mistreated, or handled with anything other than kindness when he was a puppy. But he has a thing for feet. He does not like them touching him.

So, I rub Emme with my feet and I never rub Rudy with them. Literally, different strokes for different folks.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from Emme, Rudy, Ken and Mary Lou.

Favorite Emme Photo, Number 13

Emme at the lake house on the old deck by a sweet potato vine in one of Ken's planters. This photo was taken in September 2007.

Favorite Emme Photo, Number 12

This was the photo I had posted in my hospital room when I was there for 17 days in March. It helped to have Emme "with me."

I Love the One I'm Near

When Emme wants a lovie, she always goes for Big Mama Gorilla. Rudy on the other hand is fickle. His favorite lovie is the Really Big Lovie but he is like the words to the song from the play Brigadoon: "When I'm not near the one I love, I love the one I'm near."

If the Really Big Lovie is not right at hand Rudy will pick up another lovie. Sometimes it is the Canada Goose, the Yellow Teddy Bear, the Pink or Blue Bunny, or even, horrors, Big Mama Gorilla. He is particular about size. The stuffie has to be big enough to cuddle. He wraps his paws around it so the smaller ones won't do. But any of the bigger ones will work. He is not discriminating. He loves the one he is near.

Go Get Your Lovie

Many days I take a nap after lunch and I always have two friends, Emme and Rudy, who nap with me. They each bring a lovie to nap with us.

I say "Go get your lovie" and Rudy dashes to the living room to find the Really Big Lovie. He grabs it in his mouth and carries it to the family room. Emme on the other hand sometimes runs to Big Mama Gorilla, but often will not carry it with her. I know she can carry her lovie because it is a favorite "Blitz" toy. Many times Emme will grab the toy and dash all around the house carrying it. She keeps up her blitz until she is gasping for air and needs to rest.

When it is time to nap I often have to go get Big Mama Gorilla and carry it to the family room couch. Emme has trouble jumping up on the couch with BMG in her mouth, so I put it up on the side of the couch that Emme chooses to be her nap spot. After we are all settled, we have 45 minutes of quiet as "Sleeping Beauty and the Two Dwarfs" and the two favorite lovies take a nap together. Life is good.

Favorite Emme Photo, Number 11

Emme and the Hawaiian pillow.

Where's Emme?

This morning at breakfast, I couldn't see Emme in the dining room or living room. In the early morning, she is usually sitting on the back of the couch monitoring the activity in the neighborhood or cuddled down among the throw pillows. She was not on the couch and I couldn't see her anywhere in my line of sight, so I asked Ken if she was on his side of the table. She was no where to be seen.

After looking around for Emme, we found her tucked under the cabinet in the dining room with just her little nose sticking out. She loves to hide under there, but she likes best when we know she is there and call out "Where's Emme?" Hiding is part of the game. Our recognizing that she is under something is another important part of the game. I wonder where she learned this game. I wonder if they teach this game in puppy school.

Rudy and the Shop Vac

Emme has never been afraid of the vacuum cleaner. When she was just a little puppy, I would hold her when I ran the vacuum cleaner so she got used to the sound and would not be frightened of it. Now I no longer hold her, but she is comfortable around the sound and I can vacuum with no trouble.

Inside the house, Rudy is oblivious of the sweeper. But when he is in the shop with Ken, he loves the shop vac. Ken can turn on any machine in his shop and some of them are extremely loud. Rudy never bats an eye. But when Ken turns on the shop vac, Rudy is up and right next to it. He loves Ken to run the nozzle end over his coat. If Rudy is inside with me while Ken is working in the wood shop, Rudy can hear the shop vac being turned on and he goes to the kitchen door and whines to go into the shop.

We have no idea why Rudy is so in love with the shop vac. He cares nothing for the regular vacuum cleaner but the shop vac is a different story. Rudy came to us when he was three years old, so we don't know what his early experiences were with a shop vac. It looks like someone he loved and trusted groomed him with the shop vac and Rudy is in love with that machine. Go figure.

A Morning Cuddle

When I get up in the morning, as soon as I have taken care of bathroom routines and said hello to my husband, I need two things: a cup of coffee and a cuddle with Emme.

Emme knows the routine. As soon as I come downstairs, she runs for the couch in the living room. She knows that I will come to sit down and pet her. I rub her ears, scratch her back, pet her belly and tell her what a good dog she is and how lucky I am to have her. She sits right next to me on the couch until I tell her to "Go get Ken." Then she dashes over to his chair at the dining room table and does a reasonably good sit to get petted. When Ken is done greeting her, he sends her back to me with a "Go get Mary Lou." She goes back and forth a few times before she stops to visit with Big Mama Gorilla. As Emme settles down with her lovie, I go to the kitchen to wash my hands and pour a cup of coffee. How could we start our day without our routines?

Favorite Emme Photo, Number 10

This photo was taken by a professional photographer when Emme was two months old. Emme is on the far left with her litter mates, Junior and Koda.