Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Five Love Languages.....for DOGS!

So our church recently held an evening seminar for parents on The Five Love Languages for Children.

And guess what?  It's the same freakin' thing as for adults!!  Shocker right?  I only know this, because our friends Matt & Amy went and they were like "this is the exact same thing as the adult version". 

Hmmmm....which got me to thinking last night as I was snuggling with my boys.

There really should be another book written called The Five Love Languages of DOGS! :-) 
Oh yeah, I just went there.

So Jason and I were evaluating our pups last night trying to decide which one had which love language and here's what we came up with:

Jeep
Jeep's always been a bit of a loner, but he loves to snuggle and give kisses.
I swear that massive tongue of his is outside of his mouth, more than it's in his mouth. 
He's our Alpha as strange as that is, because he's more passive and gentle. 
He's also our most fearful dog - he's terrified of fire, flashlights, lawn equipment, Jason's work cooler...I could go on and on.  Poor guy.
He weighs in at 93 pounds and guards the backyard as if his life depended on it. 
He's also our morning dog and as soon as my alarm goes off, he's moaning at the bedroom door for one of us to get up.
He's so gentle and so sweet.
We call him the Mayor, cause whenever we go to the dog park, he feels it's his job to go around and welcome everyone and say hi. 
He also goes by the nicknames: Polar Bear, Handsome, Yellow Guy & Buck Buck #1.
Love him.
Jeep's love language is physical touch.



Seven
Seven is our ADHD dog. 
He can only focus on one thing at a time and it's usually his Kong.
There could be trains going by, kids running around, CJ hanging from his collar or 50 other dogs circling him at the dog park and all he's intensely focused on is either his Kong or a tennis ball. 
If we were duck hunting folks, he would be the most amazing hunting dog. 
His "love tank" must have been getting low last night, cause he had ZERO tolerance for CJ's peskiness and was growling something fierce at him.  Even when I laid my hand gently on his back to calm him, he grunted at me.  I told Jason he was super grumpy and Jason took him outside for a little one-on-one time.  They played fetch till Seven was so tired he collapsed back in the house.
But boy, was he one happier boy. It was like night and day. 
Seven weighs in at 83 pounds and is NOT a morning dog. 
He loves his sleep and does not appreciate being woken up. 
He hates the rain and whines like no other.
His territory is guarding the house. 
He is the one that has woken us up in the middle of the night when someone was trying to get in the house. 
Seven goes by the nicknames: Booger, Monkey, Black Guy & Buck Buck #2.
His love language is "quality time".



CJ
CJ is absolutely fearless. Jeep & Seven both have their unique fears (ie Jeep is deathly afraid of fire and flashlights, and Seven is terrified of the broom, go figure).  But CJ - nothin. 
We took him to the vet last weekend for his last round of shots and he tried to take on a pitbull by growling and howling at her.
CJ's love language is "receiving/giving gifts".

I know that sounds weird, but follow me here.
This pup knows when he gets on Jeep & Seven's bad side and will go get one of his toys or even his own bone and leave it right in front of their face as a peace offering.
It's just so darn cute.
He's a total punk most of the time, but he's also still a puppy.
His last weigh in came in at 47 pounds.
I'm thinking his territory is becoming the front porch as this little guy growls and barks at anything that walks by.
He's very sweet, but extremely willful. 
Within the first weeks of having him, he growled at both Jason and I (that was shortly lived).
He's incredibly smart and fast learning.
He was potty trained within a couple weeks at most and loves going to work with Jason.
He loves to swim - whether its in the water collected in the swimming pool, a large puddle or a pond at Jason's clients home.
I'm thinking as he mellows out (and after we remove his testicles), he'll be quite sweet and gentle.
But until then....
His nicknames are:  Boog, Nut Nut, Choco Taco (cause for some strange reason he always smells like tortillas), Brown Guy and Buck Buck #3. 



 Yes, we are obsessed with our furbabies :-)