Friday, November 4, 2011

One Big Sensitive Dog

After sharing some stories about my parents yesterday, I had ever intention of blogging about my in-laws today...not an easy thing to do. Branden and I have been sitting on the bed brainstorming about how on earth we can even begin to introduce his parents. I mean this is a good way. His parents are wonderful and I love them to bits, it's just they are some of the most random 'characters' I have ever met. After throwing around some sasquatch, pirate, and alien invasion stories, we couldn't decide where to start, so we changed our focus.

I don't know why his dad is making this face but I love this photo! If you look in the background you can see lots of hats hanging on the wall. This is one of our favorite restaurants because you get to wear random hats through your dinner! This was last Valentine's Day. We were with them and had a blast!

Today you all get to meet Beauford instead. He's their 210lb. purebred St. Bernard. After you hear about his character, it will put into perspective how his owners must be even more complex!


He is the biggest baby of a dog I have ever met! Despite how huge he is (he has walked past me and hit me in between the shoulder blades with his tail!) he is absolutely petrified of Chihuahuas and ducks, and he used to have a fear of puddles but thankfully he got over that one! There are some Chihuahuas who live next door and when they started coming up to Beauford's driveway to bark at him, Beau didn't want to leave the porch for a week! He will start whining and shaking if he hears them barking.

He was such a cute puppy! I wish I knew him at this time!

Beauford may have some odd fears, but for the most part he is a happy dog who takes 2 hardcore naps a day and loves peanut butter sandwiches. Branden's parents have a big projector screen in their basement that is like a mini theater. Beauford loves to watch movies and gets very involved sometimes. I remember one time we watched "Wall-e" and Beauford started chasing the cockroach around the screen. He has his own movie that is basically some random footage at a dog park. Beau will go nuts jumping up after sticks, barking at the yappy dogs, and seeing how many butts he can try and sniff. There is one part though that we have to fast forward because he gets really upset over it. It's a scene of a male dog that is standing over a submissive female and barking like crazy at her to keep her laying down. Some other males come over and bark at the poor female too and this drives Beau nuts! He tries to bark the males away, and when they don't go away he goes up to each of us and tries to make us go stop them. He'll either nudge us, bark at us, or even softly take our hand in his mouth to 'lead us' to where the poor female is. Since he gets so upset, we just end up fast forwarding to keep him from stressing out.

In the snow, he goes into "rescue dog" mode!

Beauford and I quickly became buddies. He likes women anyway, but he has lots of fun dragging me around in my socks across the floor when we play tug of war. When we Skype Branden's parents, sometimes Beau gets really frustrated because he can hear my voice but he can't get to me. He will bark and bark at the screen and grab Branden's mom's hand in attempt to make her go get me. The other day when we were talking to Branden's mom, she put her laptop on the couch (facing towards the room) so she could go get something in another part of the house. When she left the room, I saw Beauford just laying on the floor, attempting to snooze. I started calling him and he soon got up and started groggily looking around. His first reaction to my voice was to go directly to his toys. When I didn't just grab a toy and start playing with him, he walked to the door to go see if maybe I was in another room. I called him again, so he turned around towards the computer, saw my face on the screen, and walked over to sniff my face. Obviously not smelling me (despite being able to see me), he walked away to go get Branden's mom to get me out. Branden and I were cracking up but also felt a bit bad for him since we got him a bit excited.

He loves it when I crawl on the floor with him!

So that's my intro to Beauford Clarence (he has a middle name!). My big hairy buddy. I'll start on how to introduce my in-laws on Monday!

15 comments:

  1. I want that dog!!!!! Oh my gosh, how cool is he?!!!! And that puppy picture... Too much cuteness in one photo....I'm going into sugar overload just looking at it.
    Have a marvelous weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Such a great dog. Also, I'd never be able to eat in that place. Sharing hats is a big no on my list.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Their St. Bernard is sooo cute! He sounds darling, and regal too LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Stephanie, I think your cats would murder you if you had him! LOL! I wish I knew him when he was a puppy, his is so adorable!! Have a great weekend too!!

    Joshua, he is a great dog but he also is a major producer of hair and drool. Luckily not as much drool as portrayed in the Beethoven movies but still enough to slim your pant legs.

    Elisa, he definitely thinks he's regal...until the little dogs start barking! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  5. He's as big as a bear! I don't blame him for not liking Chihuahuas either, weird looking little sods.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Then I want one of those dogs after my revolving kitty door is shut! :)
    I bet he makes a great pillow!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have a big dog story--surprise!

    When my son, Matt, was first married he was the assistant Travel Director for the San Francisco Giants baseball team. He had to go to all the away games & naturally that upset his new bride. She had a job & couldn't travel with him. His solution: They should get a big dog (like a Saint Bernard or a boxer). The dog could lie on the couch with one paw holding the TV remote, sleep, snore & DROOL. He figured she'd never know he was gone.

    Beau looks like an absolute love!

    ReplyDelete
  8. He's SO gorgeous. I want to marry him. Oh, I can't. I'd lose my maintenance.

    I'm concerned about the hats at the restaurant. What if the previous wearer had head lice? Just sayin'.

    Love,
    Lola

    ReplyDelete
  9. I want a St Bernard now! Looks like a great dog.

    ReplyDelete
  10. So cute! I've always wanted a DRY mouth, short haired St Bernard :) we need to get one of those dog park videos for our puppies.

    ReplyDelete
  11. What a cute dog. :D

    ReplyDelete
  12. Tony, if only those Chihuahuas thought he was a bear!

    Stephanie, he is a good pillow as long as you don't inhale...lots of hair!

    Fishducky, I love your stories :) Your son's plan sounds fool proof!

    Lola, I'm sure there's probably a State in the Union that would allow that...

    Steve, they are a fabulous dog breed but I just can't take all the hair and drool. Plus if he decides that he doesn't want to move...he's not going to move!

    Lisa, if you could get a dry mouthed one then you may have stumbled onto a lucky freak of nature! The dog park videos are hysterical!

    Interwebs Fails, he is pretty dang cute and he would try and crawl in your lap if he could!

    ReplyDelete
  13. There are actually dry mouthed varieties I learned! It's something about how their lips are shaped.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Lisa, really?? Wow, that's cool. Branden's parents swear that Beau 'hardly drools' and is much better than most St. B's but I've had quite major slobber strings on my pants!

    ReplyDelete

Does this straitjacket make my butt look big?