Dudley's Birthday



Birthday Cupcakes topped off
with crushed dog biscut sprinkles.

That’s right ladies and Gentleman… Dudley turned 1 yesterday. As I’m sure you are not surprised-  his birthday brought a little extra spoiling, new toys as presents, a much needed trip to the dog park, and was finished off with some homemade (yes, I actually put my kitchen aid to use on these) puppy cupcakes. I found a great recipe online and had more fun making these little doggie deserts than I had making the human brownies I prepared for my dad. J Clearly- Dudley is more like a kid to us than a dog. He totally agrees definitely thinks of himself as much more of a human than a fluffy curly crazy haired mutt, and he was so happy to be the “Birthday Boy”. 

He ate all the frosting first!

While some of you are likely rolling your eyes at the fact that he gets cupcakes, and celebrates birthdays, and heck fills my facebook status box and blog posts more often than just about anything else, I can say the last year (or 10 months) has been an absolute blast. Dud is like my little sidekick and when Michael has to work late, I’m never home totally alone. (This is HUGELY important to me even living in tiny Independence.) We walk together every day, which is for sure something both his high energy and my big butt benefit from. He loves to go in the car and makes trips home to Seattle with me with no problem. My parents even call him the “Grand-dog”. (Secretly I think they are both dying to have a grandchild that is human, but in the mean time they love Dud just like he was a baby). I have always been a dog person, but I never realized home much fun it would be to have him around. Even Michael who claimed he just really didn’t love dogs, had been wrapped around Dudley’s little paw since the moment I brought him home.
 

Now I can’t say the whole having a dog experience been all roses and sweet. He has racked up some pretty serious vet bills in the last 10 months. But knock on wood we are getting better at the whole “I’m going to swallow anything I can get in my mouth” thing. So far he has swallowed 3 pairs of panties, a huge chunk of carpet, a rock half the size of a golf ball, garbage, several receipts or paper towels here and there, along with quite a few attempted socks and who knows what else that we didn’t catch. The vet and behaviorist keep telling me it’s the Golden Retriever in him and by 3-years-old he should calm down. At least yesterday marked 1 year so we’re getting closer. I can definitely see some of that puppy behavior improving, but he is still taking obedience training and we’re working hard to see if we can beat the clock and get there before 3. J

A mid-birthday nap...



 Overall our move to Oregon has all gone fairly smoothly. It is crazy to think in just a few weeks from now it will have been 1 year since I moved down here, and just a week ago marks the 1 year mark of our house closing. But really honestly I think getting Dudley has made that transition so much easier. While getting used to a new place, meeting new people, adjusting to a new lifestyle, and settling into our home he has been there to keep me busy and make me laugh. I was just too damn busy chasing him and that little wagging tail around to even think about getting homesick. And now here we sit, settled and happy, in a house that is for sure run by the Doodle.

Since this blog is supposed to serve as memories for us, I couldn’t not document Dudley’s first birthday. I never thought I would become that crazy dog lady who loves and talks about her dog as much as I do, but apparently that day has come. And you know what? I think I’m totally ok with that. J The amount of laugher and happiness he brings to our household is so worth having the “Crazy Dog Lady” title!

So… Happy Birthday Dudley and happy Monday everyone else! Here’s to another year of Doodle delight!