Pretty much once a day I turn to Kevin and ask him, “How could someone not love this dog?!?!”

We got the girls because my friend was having a difficult pregnancy and her doctor recommended a cat hair free environment. She was heart broken and only agreed to part with the girls with the greatest of reluctance.

But Artie was given up because someone didn’t want him. How is this possible? How could you not love this dog? Even more baffling, how could be so cruel that you’d hit him in anger?

His latest thing is he’s turned into a real sneaky seat stealer. You’ll be lounging on the sofa, watching TV or reading a book, and decide to get a refill on your coffee or the phone rings and when you get back, there’s this big fat dog curled up on your spot. Lately, he’s gotten even more daring. If you stand up for even a moment to get the remote or pick up a magazine, in the .2 seconds your rump is off the sofa, he’ll scooch right in there and settle down like he’s been sleeping there for hours. I’ve tried sitting on him but he really doesn’t mind. Call or start tugging on his collar and I swear he’ll start to fake sleeping and even throw in a few snores as if to convince you that he’s fallen into slumber. Like that’ll fool you or something. The only way to reclaim your seat is to go into the kitchen and start crinkling food wrappings. He’ll suddenly “wake up” and come running into the kitchen. Of course, once he realizes it’s merely a rouse, the race is on and we both dash back toward the couch. He’s usually faster than me but he’s lower to the ground and has those extra legs so it’s not really a fair race.

They say you can find anything on Google so I decided to run a search for Artie. I was bored and just fooling around. I never excepted to find anything but, well, try it for yourself.

Run Artie + Oregon + catahoula. (That’s his “I’m-really-wierded-out-by-what-you-are-doing-please-stop-it” look.)

The sad part is, if you tried Christine + McLaughlin + Oregon, I’m not found. I’ve been surpassed by my dog. Guess I better get used to sitting on the floor for a while.