Vinnie's my buddy. Getting off work early, going to the dog park, running and playing together, sharing a bag of carrots afterwards. I love this guy.

I always feel so panicked every time Vinnie walks up to me and stares at me expectantly. Like I'm his Activities Coordinator or something.

"That house is too quiet. They need about 8 to 12 Bernese Mountain Dog puppies running up and down the stairs."

Just realized I have friends in Japan, France, Ethiopia, Israel, Canada, and all over the USA asking me about Vinnie. Total infamy. He's such a lovable guy.

Because I often come home with ice cream, I'm sure Vinnie sometimes thinks, "Geez. This woman needs someone to tell her what a vegetable is."

Sometimes Vinnie turns his head and his tail slaps him in the face. He looks so confused.

Incredibly protective

I'd like to think that instead of being embarrassingly wimpy, Vinnie actually is overly protective of me. Today's perpetrator? The Windex bottle. The "squeak, squeak" of the nozzle was pretty menacing. Vinnie growled and was not convinced when I told him it was ok. Reminds me of the night he growled at the earthworm, daring him to come any closer to us.

My cousin Jen says that he's just sensitive. :)

The mail addressed just to him was a Christmas card saying, "I like seeing your pictures on Facebook." I think my grandma gave up on me having kids.

Vinnie got 2 pieces of mail today, one addressed to both of us, one just to him. I wonder if he knows how famous he is. Or how loved. <3

I feel like I need to shave my head just to balance out all the hair in this house.

Sometimes I look at Vinnie suspiciously and ask, "Hey, do you know where all this hair is coming from?" But he never comes clean.

The Vinster

 

I've been thinking about my puppy Vinnie a lot lately, and what a blessing he is in my life. I have so many stories, thousands of stories, about our adventures together. But for now, here is just a glimpse of the Katie-Vinnie-Extravaganza.

Mornings:
More than once I've woken up to see him staring at me intently; and of course I have no idea how long he's been there watching me sleep. It's a bit creepy but I have to admire his devotion. Or maybe he's just hungry?

My favorite thing is waking up and seeing Vinnie's tail wag just simply because I've opened my eyes. How sweet, to have that as my first waking image.

He also lets me sleep in most mornings. (There was that one exception, when he woke me up at 5am because he felt like playing a rowdy game of tug-of-war with the blankets. We don't talk about that time.) My alarm will go off and I'll hit the snooze button, sometimes 4 or 5 times, and he'll inch closer to me to cuddle. But he never acts like he wants to intentionally wake me up. I love it when he puts his nose under my chin. It's cute, except that he then breathes on my neck and it tickles so much that I begin to laugh, and then there's no more sleeping in at that point.  


Daytimes:
Sometimes, if it's going to be a long day or I will be making multiple stops for work, I will just bring Vinnie with me. He loves riding around in the car, and when I have little breaks in the day, we go to the dog park or go for walks. Even if it means that I may be soaked for the rest of the day when we go somewhere Vinnie can swim.



Afternoons:
When I get home from work, Vinnie is always there to greet me. He looks up at me, his tongue going crazy as he tries to kiss me after the eternity of 9 hours of not seeing me. I often have things in my arms, and he always sniffs wildly in search of some tasty treats.

Sometimes I tease him by greeting him almost as excitedly as he greets me. "Hi! Hi hi hi! Hi hi!!!" I call out, dancing around him. He seems to like that as he wags his tail and bumps into me.

One day, he didn't greet me at the door. It was very strange not to see him there. And then a second later, I heard a small whimper coming from the side of the couch. I dropped my things and rushed over to him. He seemed to be in pain, but at the sight of me he started wagging his tail. Whatever had happened, he seemed to think that since I was there, I could fix it. That amount of trust in me touched my heart. After a few seconds, he stood up, and it seemed that one of his legs was hurting. (I had visions of him doing cannon balls off the couch in my absence.) We walked around a bit, very gently, and becasue he was still limping I decided to take him to the vet the next morning. But the next morning, he bounded out of bed and was totally fine.


Evenings:
Vinnie runs out of steam long before I do. At around 10pm or earlier, he will slowly walk over to my bedroom door to be let inside. He loves his sleep, and probably sleeps about 10-12 hours on the days when we do a lot of exercising. Or if I take forever getting to bed, he'll just crash on the couch. Sometimes using his polar bear friend (while the polar bear was still in 1 piece; RIP, polar bear) as a pillow.

When Vinnie is really tired and I still have lots of energy, I will jump on the bed to see his reaction. Once he rolled his eyes, once he looked a bit scared for a second, but each time I can see the slightest wag of his tail. Tails don't lie.

Nights:
Sometimes Vinnie has dreams and nightmares. He shakes and his feet kick, and sometimes he makes cute little squeaking noises. If it looks like he's dreaming about running in the dog park, I'll usually let him keep dreaming. If he looks disturbed, I'll put my hand on his shoulder and say, "Hey, it's okay." This usually stops him from shaking. Who knows. One night his feet were running and kicking for about 45 minutes; he was probably chasing dogs at the park. Then suddenly, he rolled over and fell off the bed. He looked up at me, surprised and groggy. Poor guy. I helped him back up onto the bed.

Every so often, Vinnie will sleep right next to me. He positions his head so that he is able to look right into my face as I'm sleeping. It's weird but it's also cute; he likes to keep his eye on me, make sure I don't go anywhere or make sure I'm safe. When I'm dogsitting, he sleeps on the floor next to my bed. One night, in Bellevue, there was some commotion outside the bedroom window, some kids having fun on a Friday night. Vinnie was sleeping on the other side of the room, opposite the window. When he heard the noises outside, he emitted a low growl. And then, as if assessing the situation and taking the next steps, he calmly and quietly got up, walked over to the window, and situated himself between me and the window before lying down again. In that moment, I felt so protected. Even though I knew there was no danger, the fact that Vinnie didn't know that and wanted to protect me from the "scary" noises outside was so touching.

Our connection:
At first, when I first got Vinnie, I wasn't sure we had a good connection. (You can read about our first day together here.) He was aggressive, wild, and was trying to assert himself as the alpha dog. He kept biting me, trying to figure out who I was in his life. But after a while, it was like it was meant to be. He is now the most gentle, affectionate, silly dog. He trusts me, he loves me, he always falls asleep on my lap even though he is 70lbs... I love this kid. He's honestly like my kid. And I never should have doubted our connection.

 

 

 

General silliness and happiness:
Whenever I'm with Vinnie, I can't stop laughing. His antics, his innocence, his hilarity all make life so fun.

 

 

General craziness:

He's the craziest character I know. And yet the most gentle too. But these pictures are pure psycho.

 

 

 

Sometimes I feel like Vinnie and I are just 2 kids, traversing life together. We both are figuring stuff out, trying our best, facing challenges and going on adventures and having fun. I'm so grateful to have him in my life.

 





There's nothing better than giving Vinnie a new toy, and seeing him grab it with that crazed-happy look in his eyes. It's terrifying, actually.

Vinnie becomes his most affectionate while I am sweeping the floors. How convenient.

Vinnie saw a Christmas tree on top of the car next to us, didn't know what it was, got scared, and started barking furiously. What a Grinch.