My Big Brother Hunter [Ruger]

Mommy and Daddy have now been parents to two black labs and two chocolate labs. They've never had a yellow lab.  When Jenna became available for adoption, they were kind of hoping she'd be a yellow lab so they'd have one of each, but obviously that wasn't to be!  They've never seriously considered adopting a yellow lab.  Luckily for me when the decision was made to add to the family this time, Mommy was adamant about another chocolate lab.  She says chocolates are her favorite (ssshhhh . .  don't tell my sisters!).

Even though I'll never have the privilege of meeting my big brother Hunter, my parents say I'm doing a pretty good imitation of him.  Apparently there are LOTS of habits we have in common!

One of the first things my parents noticed about me and one of Hunter's first noticeable traits is that we both tend to drink LOTS of water at one sitting.  Hunter used to drink and drink and drink some more.  My parents had to call his name to distract him so that he wouldn't make himself sick.  They're doing the same thing to me.  I don't drink a lot during the middle of the day, but I love to fill up right before Mommy goes on her morning walk (often resulting in a bit of a mess to greet her upon her return home) and again at night before going to sleep.  Mommy generally puts the water bowl away around 9PM so that I can't drink any more and to encourage me to sleep all night. Between the ban on night drinking and Dixie doing her part to wear me out before bedtime, I've been sleeping all night since the end of my first week home.

I seem to share my big brother's obsession for mud.  We were experiencing a dry spell until this last week and suddenly we've had several inches of rain that have resulted in MUD where the grass had died off in the heat.  That rain also made a few PUDDLES for me to play in!  When Hunter lived in Minnesota, he created Lake Hunter at the back of the property where all the water ran off.  He purposefully dropped his tennis balls in the mud so he could have the perfect excuse of looking for them.  I haven't tried this yet, but give me time and a big enough puddle and we'll have Playa del Ruger!

Daddy says I'm like Hunter in that I like to sit right in the middle of the doorway.  Apparently this usually happens when he's in a hurry as he heads out to work in the morning.  I'm not sure what the problem is.  I just want to say bye!

I'm doing really well with my housebreaking process.  My parents have a bell attached to the back door that I can ring when I want to go out.  Dixie was trained this way and uses it all the time.  Jenna only rings the bell when she's really desperate!  Hunter wasn't trained this way to go potty.  Instead he learned to go to the door and turn and give our parents the stare down.  If he wasn't noticed, he'd find our parents and stare them down.  I ring the bell sometimes, but other times I just go sit at the door and stare at the bell!  I haven't had to resort to staring at my parents yet.  They're keeping a pretty close eye on me so far . . .

I enjoy eating ice like Hunter did, but I can only handle little chips at the present time.  I'm also into eating bugs!  I can sit outside for at least thirty minutes at a time in the evening and search out bugs.  Hunter had an unfortunate incident more than once when he ate a BEE!  He looked pretty pitiful when his lip swelled up.  So far Mommy has successfully kept me away from the bees!

It's too bad I won't ever meet Hunter.  My parents even accidentally call me Hunter sometimes (of course they call me Dixie and Jenna too!).  I guess I'm more like him than I thought!

Until next time,
The Cutest Younger Brother Ever