The Battle of the Blanket

I would like to thank all of my readers, especially my followers and members.  Which includes myself.  Yea me!  Ronnie told me yesterday's post was not as witty as the day before's, so I will try to witty up....

Before our lives were blessed with Sweet Mellie, our lives had already been blessed with our two pugs, Pippin and Maggie (Ok, Dee Dee has insisted that I include that our lives had also already been blessed by our beautiful Snowshoe Siamese -- Dee Dee, and two prairie dogs - Petie and Precious (who would gladly kill you) and our two flying squirrels - Gordie and Meeloh (no, I did not name ANY of these animals.)).  Meet Pippin and Maggie.  See how happy they are?  No, really, they are happy.  They're pugs!  That's the way they ALWAYS look.  But trust me, they're happy.  ;)  Obviously this picture was taken pre-Mellie.

That's Pippin on the right and Maggie on the left.  Let me give you a little bit of history on our puggies.  We bought Pippin as a nine week old puppy.  We were looking at puppies because we were getting married and my mom would not let me take MY labrador/husky mix Mercutio (best dog I have every had) and not having a dog was simply not something to be considered.  I made the mistake of picking Pippin up, and I was not going to put him down, so I told Ronnie to pay for him.  Anyhow, that was back in 2005, so now he is 6.  We got Maggie to be Pippin's companion.  We found her on Craig's List.  Her family was moving and couldn't take her.  Plus, they had two small children and she simply wasn't getting the attention she deserved so they made the difficult decision to find a home for her.  We absolutely love her from the day she joined our family.  She is two years older than Pippin, so she is 8.  (She also barely tolerates him, even though she is SUPPOSED to be his companion.  In fact, his previous "companion," a snow white husky/malamute named Juneau tolerated him even less.  Hmmm.  I think there is something to be learned here....)  Anyhow, I am sure that many more of Mellie's adventures will coincide with the pugs, so I figured some history was in order.

Anyhow, back to my point.  Bringing Mellie home has been difficult on Maggie.  From the moment Mellie came into our home, Maggie has tested boundaries.  Whenever Mellie was little, if I was very busy with her, Maggie would bring me a toy and test to see if I would play with her.  I tried to always take a moment and toss the toy for her to chase so she wouldn't feel like she was being replaced.  Despite our efforts, she is NOT a big fan of Mellie.  She has this incredible skill of staying at least three feet away from Mellie at all times.  We try to encourage Mellie to play with Pippin and not Maggie to not aggravate Maggie's feelings about the baby.  Pippin is much better with her.  When we first introduced Mellie to Pippin, he attempted to give her a big sloppy kiss!  When she could hold her little head up, we would hold her on top of Pippin and take pictures of her "riding" him, and he would just sit there and allow it (for a time).  Now, he lets her climb over him and pat him entirely too hard.  Of course, he does have limits, and when they are reached he simply leaves. 

Recently, Mellie has discovered that she can pull blankets off the couch.  She and Maggie have had, ummm... "disagreements" about who this blanket "belongs" to once it is off the couch.  (Obviously, it belongs to Pippin when it is ON the couch as he is the only one of the three of them who gets ON the couch.  Duh.)  When Mellie is not around, you will find Maggie happily sitting on the blanket, maybe even catching a few zzzzzs..... 

Unfortuately for Maggie, she has a very strict following of the aforementioned "three feet" rule, so when Hurricane Mellie comes, Maggie heads for the hills...... 

(Sorry about Mellie's face being blurry.  She moves so darn fast and I only had time to snap one picture before she realized I was taking pictures and came over to me to ham it up).

So, Mellie, like Maggie, has discovered that this is a very nice blanket to crawl on, to roll around on, and to generally drag around.  Unfortunately for Maggie, due to her three foot rule, she doesn't have a chance at winning the Battle of the Blanket.

But it's ok, because Maggie wins the war in the end.  As she always does.  Why, you say?  Because Mellie gives Maggie her snacks.  And you know, in the end, all that matters is a full belly.