Musings from Mr. B

Our Wednesday's posts on our daily walks in 10 pictures will resume once the weather warms up. It has just been too cold for A and even the pooches to be out long enough to leave our neighborhood. While waiting for the State of the Union address, I decided to write about our future from my past. This weekend we are expecting a new bed frame, which is going to replace the metal bed frame with casters I  had my whole life. It is strange how the pooches influence all of our purchases, including our new bed frame. So I decided to write ourselves a few reminders of how to live with dogs.

Forget the furniture. Well, buy furniture that we are not afraid to get dirty (which is why our new bed frame is gray and not white), but remember that any furniture, like our white sofa, can be cleaned. After some time, we found our white bed skirt to be dark brown from the pooches rubbing on them and our white sofa also to have the same dark brown on some spots. We almost went with a white cloth for our new bedframe and headboard, but quickly changed to the dark gray because it will hide the stains better. However, we found a place that will clean our white sofa for cheap, so I guess it is possible to have white with dogs.

Forget the floors. When I first moved in, I would stress out over every little scratch on the hardwood floors, then came Mr. B. Mr. B does not know the meaning of slow or walk, but lucky for us a friend of ours just had her floors refinished and stained for a reasonable price.

Not only have a strong stomach, but a weak nose and dark colored rugs. A number of times, we have woken up to find puke and/or diarrhea all over our bedroom. Lucky for me, A has a strong stomach and not a great sense of smell, so she is willing to do the cleanup. We would spend hours trying to remove the stain from the rug using Nature's Miracle and our rug cleaner, but we wisened up and just bought a brown rug for our front room and replaced the carpet in our bedroom with hardwood. Though the accidents have decreased, it is nice that we don't have to worry about visible stains and cleanup in the bedroom is a lot easier.

Establish rules. When A and I started hanging out, I would let Ms. M on the sofa and bed with me whenever they came over. When A officially moved in, she established the same rules she had at her place and wouldn't let Ms. M snuggle with me on the sofa and bed anymore. Though I was upset at first, it really made our life easier. Not only was there a lot less to clean from Ms. M's butt stamping our cushions and sheets, but we didn't have to worry about our food. At my place, Ms. M would counter surf, but once A established the rules, Ms. M realized her boundaries and now we can leave food out on our counter.

Crate train...or tepee train. Giving the pooches a home base, gives us a place to send the pooches when we want our space.

Be a heavy sleeper...especially with Ms. M. She snores all the time and lucky for me, I can sleep through almost anything, except through Mr. B's smelly toots.

Beware of pit bulls. They will follow you everywhere, try to give you smooches and wait to get petted. They are loyal, gentle, adorable and lovable and it will make you want to start a blog.

Love...how lucky are we to receive such unconditional love...