Meet Chili Dawg and Finchy

This is the Chili Dawg. He is my dog. We got him several years ago after we had to put our first dog to sleep. Ryan had a friend at work who knew a guy who was getting a divorce and didn't want their 1 year old golden retriever any more. Ryan called the man and asked how much he wanted for him. The man told Ryan he was free for the taking, they just wanted him gone. Our first dog ended up being a biter (big time, like something was wrong with his brain), so Ryan questioned the man about the dog. The only issue they had with Chipper (his name then) was that their 2 year old child would bite him (not the other way around). So, we drove up to take a look at him, and I fell in love with him right away. He is beautiful, and he knows it. Ryan knew I needed this dog- I had had a brain injury about 6 months earlier and was fighting depression and anger at losing my memory (I'll post on that at another time). Chili helped rid me of my depression and anger. He snuggled me (he still does), he took long walks with me (still does, although those are limited now), and would just be there for me. He's my dog version of a soul mate. The only times Chili has been mad at me, was when I was pregnant with Noah, when we brought Noah home from the hospital (he ignored me for 2 months), and recently during Christmas break when he hurt himself, losing the ability to walk really well, and I had to keep him in his crate for a week- he's forgiven me though. Chili also knows he's beautiful, and on windy days, will sit in the middle of the yard with his head in the wind letting it blow his ears and fur around.

This is Finchy. Finchy is a boxer, and boxers are supposed to be intelligent. Finch has his smart moments, and he is as stubborn as Ryan, but the only command Finch will learn is "sit". We got Finch about a year after Chili. Chili seemed lonely (even though he had lots of attention), and a friend of mine knew a friend who had a boxer who spent his days on a tie-out because they had a newborn baby and didn't want him in the house anymore. So, we went to check the dog out. Chili ignored him, Finch ignored Chili. Ryan fell in love with Finch. I was a little leery because, I'll be honest, boxers look mean and I didn't want a mean dog in our house. However, looks can be deceiving. We took Finch home for a trial (we found out later that male boxers don't usually get along with male dogs- but our 2 dogs are best friends), and he never went back. I think the owners abused him, because he was very timid around Ryan, wouldn't go near him if he had a newspaper or magazine, and jumped at the sound of anything hitting the floor. Again, we didn't have to pay anything for him, either. We've been pretty blessed with these 2 animals.

Finchy is Noah's protector. It is true that boxers are excellent around children. When Ryan plays, "I'm gonna get you" with Noah, Finch does everything in his power to keep Ryan from getting Noah. When the dog next door squeezed through our fence while we were outside, Finch got in front of Noah until I got Danny out of the yard (Danny is good with kids as well, but you never know in first time encounters).