Me and My Boys

Yep me and my boys. Couldn't leave out the dog. We have been trying to pay Linus some attention as of late although it seems as if it is mostly negative attention. He got really depressed after we had Hayden. So much so that we hired a girl down the street to be his dog walker just to lift his spirits. He had a lot of the symptoms of major depression.

Isolated, check. He didn't want to be in the same room as us.

Loss of appetite, check. He wouldn't eat his food unless we stood over him.

Anhedonia. check. Yes he lost interest in doing what he used to enjoy including barking and his orange bone which has been his favorite toy since a pup.

Hopeless. check. You could see it in his eyes. He knew things would never be the same.

Depressed mood. Yep he didn't walk with the same little peep he once had.

Well I guess deep down he must have known life, his life, well all of our lives actually, would never be the same. We hired Amanda to walk him and day by day our Linus came back to us. Now fast forward two years. He loves Hayden and they play well together. Just the other day Hayden walked Linus on his leash and Linus was on best behavior. Hayden refers to Linus as "my doggie" and says "i love my doggie". Some days Hayden is more excited to see Linus when he gets home than his own mother. Linus is just as excited to see him. Hayden hand feeds Linus one piece of dog food after another and Linus just relishes the attention. Just the other day Linus went into Hayden's room while he was napping and cuddled up to Hayden in his bed. His secret bed. Linus knew better. He is not allowed in Hayden's room and hasn't been since Hayden was born but he snuck in there anyway despite the potential punishment just to be close to him. Jeff said pretty soon the two will be sleeping together at night but I don't think I am ready for that to happen. Linus didn't even miss a bark when Landon came home. He didn't even acknowledge that a new baby had just moved him down the totem pole one more notch. He literally sniffed him once or twice and hasn't paid him one iota of attention since. He has woken Landon from countless naps with his incessant barking when people or animals walk past the house. He continues to eat the hand feed dog food from Hayden and now sleeps in bed with us. I never saw that one coming since he has always slept in his crate. Oh the joys of boys and their dogs.