The Joys of Living with Livestock

I'm a city girl. Live in town. But we have livestock living in our house. I've always wanted a pony. The boys too! But in the city, you can't. Stupid Rules!!! So we compromised. We have two Beautiful English Mastiffs, Harlow and Ella instead. It's almost the same thing; but perfectly legal with the HOA and City Ordinances. People are amazed and sometimes dumbfounded when they see these two girls. Sometimes they even ask "Why do you have TWO?!" I simply smile and say; "Because THREE would seem a bit excessive." Look at them.....ahhhh! (Sorry Jen, you can avert your eyes if you need to! :) The truth of the matter is that we had a wonderful lab in our lives. He was our protector, our friend, and our family for 11 years. This is Caesar....

Even now it is hard to look at him without choking up. He had a good life; but, we still miss him dearly! When I mourn, I get down in it and wallow I have a hard time moving forward. I cry, I mope it hits me really hard. Almost as hard as it hit our other lab Jodi, shes 13.....

It scared me! I didn't know from moment to moment if I should stick a mirror under her nose to make sure she was still breathing, or put a lily between her paws because she could no longer go on. And to be truthful, some days I just wanted to lay down beside her and cry too.

My loving husband still chokes up and misses Caesar dearly. BUT, he has a different way of dealing with grief. He doesn't like to think about it too much, it hurts. He is a man, he just trys to fix it. Ricardo's way of thinking was to get another dog as soon as possible. Have something happy to take our minds off the sad event. Not that either way is right or wrong, it is just different approaches to the same problem. That being said.....it does kinda bother me a wee bit to think if anything happens to me, he will have a "replacement wife" within a few weeks time. So he doesn't have to think about losing me! hmmmm. I can just hear him now: "I'm sorry boys! It's a terrible loss. But we must get a replacement as soon as possible. Would you like a blonde 24 year old or a brunette?!" (It's a given he would go younger....by 4 years! :) All joking aside, I'm NOT saying his idea is the right way; but it did have possitive results. We stopped crying so much. And we had something positive to enjoy. And as for Jodi, well look........

She got the strength to roll over! She still misses her partner, but she enjoys mothering! (More than she would probably admit!) But she is 13. We know she won't be around forever. And when she goes, we didn't want our new addition to be so lonely. Hence, the second mastiff puppy. This is Ella when she was 8 weeks old....

And this is Ella now at almost 5 months:

Isn't she just gorgeous! Look at that little tongue! I can't walk by her without squeezing her!

This is our other beautiful girlie Harlow when she was 8 weeks old:

What a punkin! And this is Harlow now at almost 1 year old:


See her and brown eyes doing their "Neighborhood Watch" shift?! I feel so much safer! Mastiffs are great protectors of their families. They are very loving, gentle dogs. Our family just loves our new additions. They have already brought us so much joy. (And soooo many anecdotes to be added to this blog!) They are also very large dogs. They don't finish growing until they are two years old. Then, they just start filling out and adding their bulkiness. So we still have a long way to go. They eat alot. With all of our dogs, we go through 160# of dogfood a month. And don't get me started on the Poop McScooping! Oy!

Mastiffs and children are a lot alike. To quote Wanda Sikes: "Their a lot of trouble...but their worth it! And I gotta admit sometimes when I see them like this:

So sweet and loving with each other. It makes me think maybe three wouldn't be excessive...

But I know if Ricardo found out I got a THIRD mastiff.....Some blonde/brunette 24 year old would be writing this blog instead of me! And that just wouldn't do at all!!!