The houseguests

This morning I cleaned twelve muddy paws, one by one, all while being attacked by slobbery kisses, howls, cries and flying fur, and then served three varieties of breakfast, careful to make sure no one stole another's food.

It's official, I am ready to raise triplets. (Except I hope my kids wouldn't have fur. Also, I hope I don't have triplets.)

Dylan and I are dog-sitting while my parents are out of town, so our one angelic dog has morphed into three. And when I say "angelic" what I really mean is "relatively easy to handle when there is only one of him."

With our visiting canines, life is slightly different. The paws are only ever half cleaned, the meals are only partly eaten before something more exciting happens, all toys must be hidden or there will be fights (the bone is always juicier in the other mouth), the back fence is not nearly is secure as it once appeared to be, the house is full of strange odors, and the neighbors are more terrified than ever.

But despite the multiple backyard jailbreaks and fugitive situations, it's been fun. Let me make a few introductions. Of course, we all know Riley:





And this is Chelsea, a lovable (but neurotic) mess:





(Also, you should know that picture was taken a few days ago. She's currently a muddier, tanglier version of her former self.)

And finally Tucker, who has a thyroid problem and a lazy eye (and maybe a tad too much empty space up in the old noggin):





We can thank him for starting the unsightly new backyard excavation project, which a joyful Riley has continued with gusto.

We tried really hard, but after lots of treats, stern commands, and a few choke-holds, Dylan and I gave up on our attempt at lining the three up for a precious smiling puppy picture. It was hard enough to even get a headshot of each.

I'll instead close this post with a picture of all three, pretending to be well-behaved little soldiers lined up in a row, but really only a nanosecond away from abandoning the "sit" position and leaping through the air for the treat Dylan is holding above their heads.