Zoe & Dallas

Our friends rescued a chow puppy who's only a few months old and about 1/2 of Dallas' whole 37 pounds. And yet, true to Dallas' nature, as soon as the puppy set foot in our house, Dallas immediately began showing submission to the youngster. Seriously girlfriend- this is your home! grow a backbone! But it worked because the two are fast friends!

Mardi Gras!

We took Mardi Gras very seriously in the DuMont household this year...

Jake & Dallas

Yesterday I was on the computer and Chris was reading. Dallas was glued (as usual) to the front window when she suddenly starts making awkward whining noises, racing around between us and jumping up at the window. Chris and I looked at each quizzically, wondering why our dog was instantly nuts. Then I followed her gaze. Her BFF, Jake (a Swiss Mountain dog) was on leash with his parents, walking by our house. I quickly opened our front door and invited them in.

Hi. I'm Jake.

Tolerant Jake as Dallas tried to snake his squeaky toy.

Surprisingly from this photo, Jake actually weighs in at about 3 times what Dallas does. Neither one of them seems to realize there is a difference, though.

Wait- is there something out there?

And to the victor go the spoils.

Opening Christmas Gifts

We may never have to buy anything for Christmas for her, other than wrapping paper, again.... Chris, too.

Dallas at Christmas

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Chris found a headband for her with a small piece of mistletoe attached. She's exhausted here because we just spent the night chasing her for kisses.

Halloween

Poor Dallas. I became intent on dressing her up, and she indulged me, unentertained though she was. The block's first trick-or-treator was an adult pillsbury dough boy. Inexperienced in the concept of Halloween, Dallas was most certainly not willing to accept him on her block. And this became one of the few times she absolutely found her voice. "Sound the alarms! Sound the alarms- I'm not sure what this guy is, but he is MOST unusual!"

After the dough boy, neighbor Liz sat with Chris, Dallas, and myself on the front driveway and effectively handed out 900 pieces of candy in two hours. Dallas and I were the only two of the foursome dressed up.

A 'Wicked Halloween': Elphaba & Galinda

"I wanna be popular"

Dallas' First Birthday

We adopted Dallas, so we really don't know when her birthday is. But, we adopted her at 3-4 months old, we can pretty much guess she was born sometime last October. So, one cool autumn evening, we invited our friends (and their dog) to the house (actually, the back yard), bought her a little dog-biscuit cake and roasted s'mores to celebrate. OK, maybe that was more for us then her, but I didn't hear any complaints concerning the black lab friend or dog-biscuit treats.

 Dallas prepares for her cake...

She's literally drooling.

"Team DU" Noelle & Maree helping us celebrate.

 The dogs stayed pretty close to 4 year old Maree, during the marshmallow roasting.

 Black labs, united.

After treats, getting birthday snuggles.

Two Isn't Always Better Than One

Dallas Sleeps

Dallas sleeps in the most unusual positions...

Dallas in Autumn

Laura's Visit

The first week in October, my sister, Laura visited us for a weekend and met Dallas for the first time.

This is Laura- she's an environmental engineer in Seattle who just returned from a clean water conference in time to lecture Chris about the importance of cleaning up after Dallas. Apparently, she also likes to hold blue herons...sort of.

 Coffee - meet Dallas. Dallas, coffee.

 Hiding.

Having a heart-to-heart with someone who truly understands.

Man that sun is bright.

Thank God for Doggie Day Care

So we have become one of those couples. Yep. THOSE couples. We actually take our dog to day care twice a week. But we have a very very good reason why: it works.

When I started a new job last month, Chris and I worried that Dallas would chew down the house. We could just imagine the Caesar episode of "Good Dogs Gone Bad," starring Dallas DuMont. It would involve chewed up furniture, permanently poop-soiled floors, and lots of teeth-barring (have you seen those episodes?!) Hard to imagine, considering how uber-submissive Dallas really is, but we did have slight justification for our worries: In April & May, when I was doing consulting work in Wilmington, returning home only for weekends, for two months, she all but ransacked the house under sole provider Chris' care: flip flops, bathroom rugs, a jacket, pillow and magazines, even the crown molding around the floorboards- all destroyed. She even dis- eared a beloved stuffed chimpanzee. So we worried.

Immediately upon starting my job, we found a doggie day care near Chris' work and signed her up. She loves loves loves other dogs, so easily passed their test (they check for aggression, which is good) and two days a week comes home with Chris from work absolutely exhausted. Where we typically arrive home to such eager energy, racing around the house and grabbing a chew toy, Dallas now glides right past us, tunnel vision-ed to her favorite chair, falls asleep immediately and stays asleep until the next morning. Even then, she'll humor us for a walk and breakfast before falling back to sleep again, even before we've left for work that day.

And so far, starting my second month, all walls, pillows, and flip flops are fine, stuffed animals have been able to maintain the remaining ears, and excluding one unfortunate incident involving a significant amount of peanut butter, floors have been safe. All thanks to doggie day care twice a week.

Robin & Chris go to Jamaica

Leaving Dallas at the kennel is like leaving a kid inside a candy shop for a week. As I'm tearfully saying my goodbyes, she rarely looks back, all too eager to join the "cool kids" who apparently all hang out, there.

Aug. 6-14 we took a trip to Jamaica, just so she could visit her friends. And while I'm unclear on how she spent her time, this is how we spent our's.

Dallas and the Umbrella

Every once in a while, we scare the puppy, purely for our own entertainment purposes.... and I sometimes think to myself that we should never have been trusted with a dog.

Dallas Solves a Problem

Digging isn't tolerated at the DuMont household.... well... there are exceptions.

101 Degrees

She's not the smartest dog on the block, but we love her just the same.

At 101 degrees outside, today, Dallas prefers to go outside to lie in the sun...

Problem From 6/25/2011 Solved

One Pathetic Lookin' Dog

Biting Off More Than She Can Chew...

Occasionally, during walks, Dallas will find a fallen tree or super large stick in the forest, and literally attempt to drag it along behind her. She'll give it a valiant effort for about 20 seconds before she realizes its much too heavy for her. But she still insists on trying.... every... single.... time. We live in a forest, so this is A LOT of sticks.

So, imagine her surprise when this really big stick fell from the trees and landed RIGHT in her back yard!

 It made her so happy, its been living in our yard ever since.

 And saves us lots of money on chew toys.

The Dangers of Surfing Near an Island...

Dallas and Robin try indoor surfing with a less than stellar ending...