Boy & Dog...

Mojo is a little over 5 years old. She is a sweet mutt that I rescued from the Savannah Humane Society the day Trey deployed to Iraq for the first time. Mojo is patient with Logan and affectionate with me. She merely tolerates Trey, which really amuses me. Mojo was once hit by a car, broke her nose, and had tire tread marks on her hind end! She doesn't make messes and is relatively low maintenance. She is an almost perfect pet.

Then there is Banjo. After we moved from Savannah to stay with my parents for a few months and then to the Memphis area, Mojo began gaining weight. I convinced myself she was depressed and needed a playmate. In retrospect, I was feeling the need to nurture a baby and having another child wasn't in the cards yet. So, I began putting pressure on Trey for a puppy. I found a man on Craigslist advertising free 8 wk old basset puppies. I emailed Trey the information no less than 30 times. Finally, he gave in and we were headed to pick up Mojo's "friend." (Note: When we arrived at the breeder's home we learned that the dogs were not 8 wks old but 5 wks old and headed for the shelter if not adopted. duh-duh-duh...) We brought home the tiniest floppy eared sweetie. She has since grown, and grown, and grown. Banjo is loud, into EVERYTHING, and wild! She is certainly not the sleepy hound seen on tv.

Logan is very sweet with Mojo but loves to wrestle with Banjo. We have to watch him because he sometimes gets a little rough. Banjo likes to wrestle with him too. One of them is frequently body slamming the other. It works out well since they both weigh 43 pounds. This week Logan has invented a new game. He and Banjo run back and forth down the upstairs hallway. I watched (and even ran) for a bit with them yesterday but ended up sitting in the doorway of his room with Mojo watching them run by over and over. Then last night, Logan wanted me to pitch a ball to him so he could practice batting. Every time he missed the ball (which, by the way, isn't often!) Banjo grabbed the ball off the ground and took off running. We almost had her trained by the end of the night to pick up the ball and bring it to me to pitch again.

I'm sure that people read my facebook statuses and wonder if I ever supervise my child. I mean really, how can a kid get away with releasing a frog in the house, coloring his foot brown with markers, smearing pudding on the wall, etc. I'll tell you how it happens. I leave Logan to let Banjo in, then out, then in, then out..., clean up the toilet paper roll she has unrolled and shredded in the house, get her out of the dishwasher (yep, she can open it if it isn't latched!?), chase her up and down the stairs attempting to get Trey's watch from her, scrub the carpet where she chewed a highlighter pen...etc, etc, etc. It is a good thing she is cute...

I pray for Banjo to grow out of the puppy stage and for our house to sell so I have back up with Trey. But, even with all the stress, I love this darn dog and I'm glad Logan has a forgiving playmate. As I'm typing this blog Logan is in his room singing and Banjo is asleep on my feet. At this exact second they are both accounted for. But...come to think of it, I have no clue where Mojo is!?