Tanner & Peyton

I don't think I've told you all about Peyton have I?

If you remember, I lost my black lab, Maggie, back in. Pause. I had to go back to my blog to see when Maggie died and it was Feb. 10, 2011. I can't believe it's already been a year. I saw this photo of her pop up on my screen and it hit me in the chest. I still miss her so much. I'm fighting back tears as I type.

Maggie was my wedding present from Jim. She was 11 when she died. In April I was finally able to write my goodbye to Maggie on my blog. Please read it if you haven't already. (ok, now I am crying)

It was in that post that I introduced you to our crazy dog Tanner that we had just adopted from Indiana Bulldog Rescue.

Over the spring and summer we got to know Tanner. He was about six months old when we got him and we were his third owner. We could tell it was his behavior that made him end up in the rescue. We're not sure about Tanner's history, but we could tell he didn't respond to positive or negative reactions from us. We would walk in the door and he would immediately start biting on us, wanting to play. He was full of energy and even long walks didn't tire him out.

We traveled a bit over the summer and we found an awesome lady to watch Tanner at her house. She has two dogs and a huge backyard and whenever Tanner would come home from doggie day camp he would be tired and lay around for two days straight. It happened every time. We knew that he was lonely and needed a playmate, but were we really considering getting another dog?

I thought it would be out of the question.

When Maggie and Cicely were still alive I used to look at the Human Society of Indianapolis' web site all the time and send Jim photos of the cute puppies I would see up for adoption. Well, one day in late October I happened to go out to that site for the first time in years. I browsed the different dogs stories, looking to see if any of them jumped out at me and then I found this little guy. Peyton.

I sent Jim an e-mail titled "humor me; i'm at it again ..." and the e-mail included this sentence from Peyton's bio “I also enjoy playing with big dogs who enjoy wrestling.” along with this photo.

Later that day I sent Jim a text about the dog and he replied "get that dog."

So we coordinated a date to meet Peyton and brought the whole family, including Tanner, to meet him. As soon as Tanner locked eyes on Peyton in the little garden area of the human society we knew it was over. They immediately took to each other and were having so much fun playing. They both loved wrestling, but never got mad at each other.

We talked to the volunteer for a long time about Peyton. Again, we don't know his history. He's the same age as Tanner (about a year at the time we adopted him). She said when he came into the shelter and was put in a crate he freaked out after a few days and she volunteered to keep him at her house until he was adopted. She said he was going insane in the crate with all the other dogs and noise.

It took him a little while to warm up to Jim. We can tell he's afraid of the garage and he jumps at sudden movements. It just breaks my heart to think about what may have happened to either of our dogs before they came to us.

I could go on forever about Peyton and Tanner, but the main point is that they are a match made in heaven. We knew right away we made the right decision and these two boys were meant to be together. They even have the same coloring and they have the same markings on their head.

They need each other. They played nonstop for three months. If they weren't asleep they were playing and wrestling with each other. Tanner became a perfect angel once Peyton came home with us. He never nibbles on us anymore. Peyton loves to cuddle, which I love. He will snuggle up with me and just be happy to be near me.

Ok, enough with the words, here are some photos.

 

Yep, Tanner still sucks on blankets :)

My big sweetie sleeping on me.

Tanner likes to lick Peyton's ears and face for some reason.

It took them awhile to get to this point, but they love each other so much now that they often "spoon" together.