Living with a Labrador

As fall approaches and the mornings get crisp and the sun starts to fade sooner in the evenings I get happy. I love summer, I really do, but Fall is my favorite season. It also happens to be my birthday! I won’t ever be able to think about my birthday without remembering my birthday when Brodie was 3 years old. I always spend my birthday on the Houseboat, on the Delta, or somehow on the water. We had birthday dinner plans at a local Delta restaurant, and had our houseboat on their dock out front. The day itself was wonderful – weather was spectacular, Mark and I took a boat ride down my favorite slough, Brodie was swimming and hanging out on ‘his new dock’, we met great friends for dinner, and drank the night away listening to music. Mark went to bed first, I followed an hour or so later. Best of my recollection it was about 11 PM when I went down to bed, Brodie was with me, and I locked the sliding door and assumed we were all going to bed for the night.

Mark woke me up in the middle of the night with a shove and said: ‘Ned is on our back deck’. I’m closest to the back deck, so I rolled out of bed and starting walking towards Ned. I believed that our friend’s dog had returned to our boat looking for Brodie, or dinner, or something. With each step towards the back door I was stirring up all sorts of pissed off for my friend’s lackadaisical attitude about his dog – how could you NOT know where your dog was in the middle of the night??? I was going to have to get my shoes on, brush my hair & teeth, and return him to his owner about a half-mile away. AND not disturb my sleeping angel while I wrangled another dog.

I was wiping the sleep from my eyes and still taking steps towards the back when I realized it was Brodie on the back deck, NOT Ned. He was soaking wet, swimming and wondering why I was awake!!!! I was terribly confused, my brain could not process the images it was seeing. I looked at the sliding door, still closed! Yet, here was my dog (clearly NOT an angel) on the back deck swimming the night away. I started yelling at him before the collection of images my eyes were taking in made sense.

Not that night – but Brodie in the window frame of the houseboat on the back deck.

I pulled Brodie into the houseboat through the semi opened back window. He seemed to be fine, wet, but fine. He promptly ran towards the bedroom, onto the small bed that we have on the houseboat, and shook off! Now my semi-sleeping husband was being soaked by the spray coming off the dog, my bed sheets & comforter covered in wet dog. And there was more yelling…..

I still was struggling to process the images and things that were happening. Time check, it was 2:00 in the morning. I went to sleep at about 11 PM – had Brodie been swimming alone, in a strong current portion of the river, in an unfamiliar location for 3 hours!!!! Short Answer = yes

How did he get out of the boat? The main sliding door was still locked, tightly. The kitchen window was open, and the back deck window was slightly ajar. I may never know, but I believe he went out the back deck window. It is the only explanation that makes sense – to see him jump out of the window would have been interesting. He’s done it before, only to find the window CLOSED – which was painful to watch him hit the glass and fall to the floor (but he was being a little shithead then and trying to run away from me when I told him he was all done swimming). Did Brodie open the window with his nose and slip outside after I went to sleep? Short Answer = yes!

What in the hell was I doing awake at 2:00 Am with a wet dog, wet clothes, wet bed, and angry husband? NO answers could make that scenario make sense.

I did what I should have done to begin with. I got out Brodie’s collapsible crate, but it together, and put the dog in the crate where he slept safely for the remainder of the night. He was safe from the dangers of swimming alone at night, but also safe from his parents who wanted to cause him bodily harm.

I finally made it back to bed after changing my PJ’s, having some water, and getting some dry blankets for bed. Unbelievable – I was the lackisdazical dog owner who didn’t know where her dog was! Me, I was that person! Brodie almost always sleeps in his crate on the boat now, especially if I’ve been drinking – he simply can’t be trusted to stay inside the boat and out of the river even in the dead of night. I am thankful that night that Brodie knows how to climb the ladder that is submerged in the water to get onto the back deck. Without that ladder and his skills climbing it, I am not sure what would have happened that night. Because the story ended well, I can laugh about it, but I also shutter to think about what could have happened that night!

More peaceful times on the back deck, while being supervised.

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September 5, 2014: Brodie Brown Turns 5 years old

Today is the day my brown baby turns 5 years old.  The birthday isn’t special to him, not that I can discern.  It is special to us, or more correctly, it is special to me.  It reminds me of all the anxiety I built up telling Mark I wanted a new dog (after promising him I would ‘take a break’), the anticipation about visiting a breeder, the overwhelming cuteness factor while looking at multiple liters of puppies.  I knew without a doubt that I wanted a chocolate male puppy.  The breeder didn’t allow you to touch her puppies, but I saw this baby boy with beautiful eyes and a nice block head – exactly what I wanted.  Then we got to meet his ‘parents’ – Angie a sweet smallish black female who was just docile and loving & Turbo a sturdy yellow male with a block head and what appeared to be endless energy (first clue!). Both champion field Labs continuing distinguished blood lines.   

I wasn’t first pick of that litter, so I had to wait…. Those who know me know that patience isn’t a virtue I possess, but I waited with no other choice.  At six weeks she allowed for litter picks, and I was second.  She called and said ‘the chocolate male is your boy, the first couple picked a black female!’ – I was ecstatic and I went the next day to touch my puppy!

Perfect Baby Boy!

We didn’t pick him up until he was 10 weeks old.  A product of finishing some work on the east coast, personal commitments and wanting the breeder to crate train him before I picked him up.  If anyone has every crate trained a puppy it is a painful process; they go from the comfort of their littermates and mother to a plastic box and they cry…boy do they cry.  It takes a few days, sometimes a few weeks, and they learn their crate provides them their own space in the world, no one will bother them, they can sleep, rest, and be safe.  But the process is painful and the breeder offered a crate training service I was more than willing to pay for.

I flew home from New Jersey/Philadelphia the Sunday before Thanksgiving that year, Mark picked me up at the airport and we drove straight to the breeder to pick up “Kennedy”.  I had decided to name him Kennedy (after President John Fitzgerald Kennedy).  The minute I met him for the second time I knew it didn’t fit (second clue, he wasn’t going to be regal).  We called him ‘puppy’ for a few days, then went out for Sushi the night before T-day and started brainstorming names.  I LOVE football, as much as I love Labs…so we tossed around football inspired names.  I thought ‘Montana’ was too long, ‘Rice’ or ‘Jerry’ wasn’t a fit, I rejected ‘Romo’ right away (Mark is a Cowboys fan).  I wasn’t ready to use ‘Walsh’ yet, using Bill Walsh’s name will come at a time in the future – but it really didn’t fit either.  Then Mark came up with John Brodie, the quarterback for the 49ers prior to Joe Montana.  It clicked immediately and because he was also brown – “Brodie Brown” was given his name!  He wasn’t near as excited as I was to have a name, but it truly fits his personality. 

It’s been 5 years now – and we can’t imagine life without him.  He makes us laugh, he makes us mad, he loves us, and we love him – he fits our lives perfectly.  Brodie lives the life of riley; trips, boats, swimming, running, tennis balls, devoted dog sitters, rice & chicken dinners, walkabouts, neighborhood kids to play with, expensive doggie beds, a spot on the sofa, and every toy possible in his toy box.  He is also high energy, requires a lot of exercise, can be obnoxious and stubborn, is definitely spoiled, and at times looks at you like you are the devil.  Every day a learning about what it means to share your life with a high energy Lab. 

On Labor Day each year I throw him a birthday party with cupcakes & a candle, mostly it’s about the kids in his life, but everyone gets a cupcake including Brodie – AFTER we sing ♫♪♪♪♫♫ Happy Birthday to you ♫♪♪♪♫♫… to Brodie Brown.  As we celebrated year 5 Brodie enjoyed his annual vanilla cupcake with all the kiddos he loves!  

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