mornings with maggie

I've taken a step back from my routine morning annoyance at our crazy yellow lab, Maggie, to think about the good parts of having her and all she adds to our family. (This will help me like her better today.) This dog is literally a Jekyll/Hide. She is very, very bad and super annoying every morning, but by nighttime I love to nuzzle and snuggle the dumb beast 'cause she's so completely loveable around 10 p.m. She spends most of the morning barking and tugging at my clothes...because she wants to eat, she wants to go out and because the kids are leaving. She literally stares out the window and barks at the boys at their bus stop (in a panicked, motherly sort of way) until the bus pulls up and she sees them get on. As soon as the bus is in sight she stops barking and presses her nose against the window (yeah, my front window is pretty messed up and until school ends, there's just no point in cleaning it) and fogs it up until the bus pulls away. THEN, she will finally lay down. For about 15 minutes; then she starts gathering, one by one, things she shouldn't have. This morning it was a Barbie, then the Barbie dress, a pencil, a hat, and a bunch of stuffing from a pillow she ripped apart. If you haven't seen Marley and Me, check out the trailer below - this will give you an idea what it's like to live with Maggie.


However, then there's all the 'other' moments...like when she and Luke curl up together,
or when we sit on the floor and she thinks that's her open invitation to be 'held' (she confuses "lab" with "lap" dog...),
or lets kids do practically anything to her...like pull her lips, or pretend she's a horse (one time we had friends over and when their parents said it was time to go, one of the kids said "awww...that means we can't ride Maggie anymore...")
and naps with the kids when they don't feel good...
or thinks it's her job to make sure the boys are 'bathed'...
or times like Saturday night when we had built a fire in our fire pit on the patio and the kids and I all piled on the patio lounge chair and she had to be in the middle of it all, taking turns resting her head on each of us. She's really a very affectionate dog, who probably just needs better training. Labs have tons of potential, and that's why they are so often used as service dogs. Just wish I had a clue how to tap into all that!

So, even though she covers our house in hair right now, gets waaaaay to excited when people come over, practically knocks Luke down when she's happy to see him, can't be left out unchained or thinks it's time to play tag, and kind of stinks....we still love her. Like I tell Kate...if I would have it to do over, I'm still not convinced that I'd get a dog again...but I can't deny, I do love this crazy canine.