OhMyHead

At the shelter, meeting him for the first time. He was such a busy little fella this shot and the next were the best two we could get.

I picked him up and we met "Daddy" at the park. Our first day with him!

pooped

Those little daggers HURT!!!

sharp little daggers

the fam

Grandma Mim comes to visit!

I got you!

River and Dexter are frequent play mates.

These burrs actually came out quite easily.

His pig is one of his favorite toys.

We're trying to expose him to kids as much as possible.

They're huge.

His tail is taller than he is.

Dexter and Smudge were immediate pals. Played very well together and for not nearly long enough!

Dexter met cows for the first time today! He wasn't scared at all and barked at them until they got bored with him and walked away.

He's doing MUCH better on the leash these days!

Twice as tall as he and just as speedy.

Lover of sticks!

Love the tongue shot here!

Mike likes this shot b/c it looks like he's smiling and talking.

How does it feel being his prey?

We want him to be a water dog, so we're encouraging him as much as possible to get in the water...on his own accord of course. The last thing we need is him scared of it.

Because of his allergies, we bath him with a special shampoo that requires we leave him lathered up for 10 minutes before rinsing him. Our biggest success has been spreading peanut butter on the side of the tub and letting him lick it off. It's funny because he'll use his teeth to scrape it off faster.

We're working on resource guarding... or avoiding it to be more precise!

Thought this was adorable. Dexter's cuddling Mike's leg (not mine as mine aren't nearly that hairy).

Dexter found Mike's stuffed football and carried it all the way down the stairs (which was really funny to watch b/c it's about the size he is).

It seems that our wishes came true and we have a water dog. Dexter likes (not loves, but likes) to swim and will even do it without prompting from us at times. He first swam at bull creek on 6/9 completely out of the blue. Be sure to check out the videos above, especially the 2nd one!!

Sometimes some prompting is required. Here he is motivated by the interesting camera while Mike films a short video of him. Another plug to check out the videos!

The best part was that Dexter and Bailey got to hang out and play. Fun for the parents especially b/c the result was two pooped out dogs.

We took the boat to a sand bar in the lake where they dogs could run and swim. Dexter had a BLAST!!

Those little legs worked so hard!

He is Short. There were many times that we were in water just a little too deep for him. We would then hold him and he even got to the point that he would latch onto us when he got too tired to swim. The best was this one time that he randomly decided to use the back of a stranger to rest. Quite funny - at least for us.

I believe I can fly...

I love this picture. He (i.e. Dexter) looks like drowned rat.

Here he was using the life jacket as his resting spot. Made us wonder if we should one day get him a life vest so he can come with us in deeper water and just hang out.

Yeah, we could get used to this life. Thanks for the weekend, Justices!

He's weighing in at 30 pounds these days. We're guessing another 10 to go.

We got a random slinky in the mail for a promo. Dexter had a blast with it.

The most common question we're asked is what kind of dog is he. I think our latest and best guess has to be Jack Russell terrier and basset hound mix, with others I'm sure. What ever the mix, we're pleased with the result. Update: So today (9/5/05) we met a lady at Amy's Ice Cream who saw Dexter and immediately knew what kind of dog he was because her aunt had gone and spent $5000 dollers on hers. This lady also used to work at Town Lake (where we got Dexter) and explained how they came up with the dog breed - basically just by guessing. Anyway, she claims he's a PBGV (Petite Basset Griffon Vendeen). We have to say, everything we read on this breed fits Dexter to a 'T'. Plus, and probably the most convincing piece of evidence, the picture we saw of his mother looks like she could easily have been a PBGV. I think we finally know the primary breed of our little guy!

One lady commented to me that he had "human eyes". I must have given her a strange look b/c she went on to explain how her dog has cow eyes and this other dog has some other kind of eyes. Whatever.

(Okay, a car.) Evidently, Dexter has a new girlfriend and they were muggin' down in the back seat. Gettin' a littl' somethin' somethin'!!!

Bark, Emma, Dexter, and Mei Mei. He made a ton of new friends while we were gone.

Bark, Dexter and Mei Mei

Bark and Dexter

Oh, he has a stick!!

It's a slumber party!

Dexter talkin' to Mei Mei.

All tuckered out. Looks like this one is on the car ride home.

This picture cracks me up! Cuddling on the bed...

But I don't WANT to play now!

He played and played and then pooped out! (At least that what is looks like from the pictures we got.)

He's not allowed on furniture at home. My did we get spoiled!

From left to right we have Sam, Dexter, Sparky, and Sadie. They're all tied together for one massive ball-o-dog.

that's not Dexter! Nope, this is his mommy, Winnifred. (I apologize for the poor picture; its scanned off of a tiny laser jet print from the shelter. It was the best we could do.) Take your best guess now at Dexter's breed. I think I'm still convinced there's some PBGV in there.