Meet Barry!

Meet Barry. 2(ish) year old American Pit Bull. Sweet big-baby-boy-lap dog.

Beautiful, huh?

He was rescued from a shelter in a suburb of Chicago, IL. I can't say it was love at first sight. In fact I think my husband and I were scared shitless. Not because Barry's a pit bull but because we sort of decided we'd bring him home before ever even meeting him (a story for another day). He came out into the room where we met him at the shelter all big and happy and excited. Tail wagging (a lethal tail), whining, jumping, pulling hard on the leash the handler had him on and we were expected to take him home with us. Our nice, quiet, boring home would now have a pit bull resident.

I promise soon I'll have a post about bringing him home and the first week of hell we endured for the love of an animal.

Back to meeting Barry...

Barry's favorite things include going on walks outdoors, other animals (especially squirrels), his Kong toy filled with goodies, weekends when we're all home together, treats, sleeping in our bed, snacks, getting his pink belly rubbed, the flirt pole, food, love and approval from his adopted parents, and meal time. He really loves to eat, but he's a dog so I guess that's not too incredibly impressive or abnormal.

Barry's dislikes include PAWZ rubber booties (though, he doesn't put up much of a fuss when we do put them on him), baths (we've only given him one so far), his red winter coat (too snug), being kicked out of bed at night and told to sleep in his own doggie bed, human dinner time, not being able to meet every doggie and person he sees and finally weekdays when we are gone for work during the day.

He is still new to us. We're going on two months with him right now and we're already madly in love. I hope he feels the same about us.

He is laid back and pretty much just enjoys being next to us. Wherever that may be. He hates sleeping by himself in his own doggie bed and insists each night on jumping in bed with us. That usually consists of Barry slowly, like a ninja in the middle of the night, walking to either side of the bed and with one incredible 4 foot leap landing right smack in between my husband and I then laying across the bed taking up much of the foot space. At that point we are both half asleep and too tired to do anything about it. Okay, the truth? Most nights we just let him sleep in the bed with us. Naysayers to dogs being allowed in your bed be damned. Barry's cute and we love him. Though, we have tried a number of times to make him sleep on his doggie bed. The times we do try that he really does come to our bed like a ninja in the night... Well, a ninja with jingling tags, but a ninja nonetheless.

Proof that Barry does sleep in his own doggie bed - even if it is only during the daytime.

At this point I might be able to admit that he's officially spoiled and I don't care. Poor guy was in a shelter for 2 months where he didn't get many walks or much exercise, he was underfed, and it was just an overall high anxiety and horrible place for a dog to be. It was bad enough for my husband and I walking into the kennel area for about a minute and seeing the many, many dogs. The smell, the noise, the nervous energy... I feel bad for any dog that is in a shelter. The people that work at shelters or volunteer are amazing people who don't get enough credit.

I hope you enjoyed this first post! I intend to do a couple of posts per week with updates, pictures, advice, and honest reviews of products.