this one's for the boys

Oakley is, and will always be, my best pal. We adopted Oakley from a shelter a little over 4 years ago. I've been through two knee surgeries and a host of other "if it's going to happen to a dog, it'll happen to my dog," issues. I love him.

Itchy is my other dog. I love him, but Itchy is... has always been difficult. Jared and I went for a walk one night in December and Itchy followed us home. It was suppose to freeze that night and we just couldn't leave him out there. We decided to inspect him before letting him in, just in case. Immediately we noticed something was wrong, but not sure what. He was skinny and had no hair on his ears; most definitely a street dog. We carried him upstairs for a bath, it was at this point when he seemed to be rethinking picking us to follow home. We put him in Oakley's old kennel and gave him a big bowl of food. He ate fast and for the rest of the night he scratched. I took him to the vet and was told he had scabies. Scabies, or sarcoptic mange, is super contagious for both humans and animals. Awesome. I washed everything with bleach, well, everything except Oakley. But he did get a bath. Itch was at the vet for 2 solid weeks, then the plan was to set him up to get adopted, but we would "foster" him.

Fast forward 2 months later, we're sitting in Jared's car at PetSmart, and I'm a blubbering mess. I absolutely did not want another dog, but I was attached. Jared walked me, Itchy and my red swollen eyes into the store were we adopted the beast.

The following are a list of things Itch has eaten.
a box spring
carpet (from door frame to door frame)
my new sofa
numerous blankets, sheets, etc.
3 thick black plastic kennel bottoms
magazines
hand fulls of Grace's toys
Not to mention that the dog walked up to me in the living room straddled my foot and proceeded to pee on it. He's a terror, but yet, we still love him.
There is a point to all this.
While both boys love Grace, Oakley would rather love her from a distance. She scares him, but he tries so hard. He's always the first to her room when she cries and as long as she remains calm, they can be friends.
Itchy is wild! He jumps around and barks at her, but she loves it. He'll let her do whatever she wants to do. Pull his ear hair (I think he was blessed with extra after the scabies), fluff his tail, slap his sides, you name it. Today we witnessed this:

Grace went from nice brushing to almost poking out his eye, and he never flinched.
He's a good dog.
He never snaps, or ever tries to run away. He's always been sweet, just not always good. I'm so glad Itch found us, and I'm glad he's my dog. He's definitely sealed the deal on his free ride.