Sunday, May 6, 2012

{Life}: Harley Girl Grows.

Our Harley girl is almost a year old. Her birthday is May 14th. While I pondered throwing her a birthday party stereotypical of any one year old's birthday (cake, more adults than pets/children, lots of booze), the reality is that May is a season of craziness for me. So as I get over the guilt that I suppose all parents (canine and other) feel, I'll reflect on my sweet girl and our time together.

We got Harley in July when she was 8 weeks old. She'd travelled from a flooding field in Arkansas into the safe arms of Belly Rubs Basset Rescue. Her momma and papa basset were abandoned and her mom was very pregnant and gave birth as soon as she was in safety. From there, Harley was raised by a wonderful woman that devotes her life to rescuing dogs. I got to see pictures of Harley from the moment she was born thanks to the magic of facebook and I picked her out (well she picked me out) in June when I drove to Knoxville with some of my close friends from camp.

Harley has been all personality from the beginning. I should have known what we were in for when I had narrowed the decision of which pup down to two dogs - neither of which were her. There I was, with the two cutie 3 week old puppies in my lap and all of a sudden here came Harley - I hadn't even noticed her before. They were barely walking and she came scooting up to me and put her head in my lap. From then I knew she was the one.

As she grew up, she showed her spunk, authority, and alpha ways. From day one she tried to boss around our two other bassets. She developed her "bossy bark," which is where she very matter of factly states something in a deeper tone than normal. When you tell her no she squats, turns around, and runs in a circle barking. Needless to say, life with Harley is an adventure.

And she's so sweet too. As bossy as she can be, she is just as loving. She loves climbing in the bed and cuddling and she spoons with her basset brothers all the time. She is also very smart and obedient. Life with Harley is great.

With her first birthday approaching, I went back in my photos to do some comparisons. Here she is sleeping on the couch when she was about 3 months old:


Same couch, similar pose at almost one year:


Here she is at two months old:

And now -

Here she is, typical of her young self, beating up on Sebastian:


Now she gets along with her brothers well and can be found lounging with them. She's almost as big as Beamer and is just as big as Sebastian!


For a long time she couldn't get up the stairs on her own:


Now she runs in and out (and knows to go to the door when she needs to go outside). Harley loves watching TV:

And especially loves watching basketball and holding her growl towel while cheering on the Grizzlies. This was her face the other night after they blew a 27 point lead:


Having Harley in our lives has been a blast. Even with a surgery, demodex, a cherry eye, and some joint issues, she is still the most precious girl to us and lights up her life. Looking back at her puppy pictures, I think I have an idea of what parents say - "they grow up so fast!".

Happy Birthday, Harley!

In puppy kisses,
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1 comment:

Sarah said...

Hey! I just found your blog through Kelly's Korner. I am in Memphis too. I love all your travel posts. Your friend, Claire, looks super familiar! Where did she go to school? I am Episcopal too. Maybe I know her from church or through my younger brother or from camp. Who knows?

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