Fadedwords

There are a lot of people who don’t understand why I adore my 102 pound, excessively furry, incredibly hyper (at times), vocally boisterous, bed-hogging German Shepherd.

These are the people who have never witnessed him go from snoring unconsciousness, to alert and ready to kill anyone who might think it’s a good idea to mess with me.

We were laying here moments ago and one of my neighbors began setting off some sort of fireworks.  It sounded like a gunshot.  Merlin’s head snapped up and he looked to the couch to be sure I was here.  Another firework went off and he got up, came to the front of the love seat, and sat down directly in front of me with his shoulders squared toward the door and window.  He glanced at me once over his shoulder, his message clear: “Don’t worry Mom, I’ll protect you.”

He has calmed slightly since the first of the noise, now laying down in front of the couch but still at full alert.  There will be no more sleep for him until he’s 100% positive that there’s nothing out there that could possibly harm me.

Say what you will about him, I know I do.  I also know that despite all of his tedious habits, I couldn’t live without this dog.  He has my back, and that’s saying a lot.

Dear Internet: (preferably someone in the triangle area)

Who wants to watch my dog for 10 days in June and then again for a couple days in July?  I’m trying to plan ahead and be certain I have someone for both trips I have to take.  One is to Seattle and the other is to Michigan for one of my closest friend’s weddings.

If anyone would be willing to do that, I would be eternally grateful.

Love,
Kate

If there’s one thing Merlin is good at, it’s flailing about.

Flailing from Kate Moynihan on Vimeo.

Merlin loves stuffed dog toys.  By “loved” I mean that he thoroughly enjoys ripping them limb from limb in the span of about ten seconds.  I gave up getting him stuffed toys, other than for extremely special occasions (his birthday) when he was about five months old.  Our good friends Toby (a min pin) and Jackie (a human) got him a stuffed Santa Claus for Christmas.  I avoided giving it to him at first, because I did not want stuffing all over my house.  I was very surprised however, when Merlin became very overprotective  of his gift.

He carries Santa everywhere.  He loves to show you his special toy.  He snuggles with him.  I put Santa up at night time, because there is a thing inside him that used to say “Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas.” That is the only thing that has been broken on Santa though, other than one ripped foot.  It’s unbelievable to me that the toy has lasted this long.

He lurves his Santa.

Merlin has discovered that there are many good places to lay in our house.  Lately one of his favorites has been the blue papazan chair in the living room, which he hasn’t even tried to get up in since he was a puppy.

He’s only run into trouble twice getting up in this chair.  By trouble I mean, the top of the chair tipped over and it ended up chasing him out of the way.  He did not like that.

I may end up doing two entries for Merlin Monday today.  I have some really, really adorable pictures that I wanted to put up, but apparently they are still on my camera!