Dad gum dogs!

I have a love-hate relationship with our dogs, Shadow and Ranger. Shadow is the older, calmer (neutered) one, and he is generally a great dog. EXCEPT he is mostly lab, so he loves getting in ponds and then getting all muddy. Did I mention they're house dogs? Don't ever do that to yourself. Then you end up having a love-hate relationship with the dad gum things. Then there's Ranger....poor, pathetic, annoying Ranger. He's the puppy, and when you consider that we found him on the edge of death, abandoned by his owners at Paul and Diane's house, it's easy to see why he acts the way he does. His ridiculously high-pitched whining whenever we come home (We imagine he's saying, "Why did you leave me for so long? I thought you left me forever! I'm so hot, so hungry, so tired, I need to go collapse on the tile--" and then plop, he's down and he's quiet.), his temperamental stomach (and don't you know that dogs always leave piles on the carpet, because of its uncanny resemblance to grass? Lovely.), and his chewing habits (last victims: TWO paperback novels, one of which wasn't even mine, and the other I hadn't finished reading yet!): all this equals a very frustrating dog. But then he gives you that pathetically loving, grateful gaze, and you just want to hug him and pet him and cuddle him all at once. This picture is of Shadow in his favorite spot: Jay's closet, among the dirty socks (he will pull dirty clothes out of his hamper just to lay his snout on them...gross! In this pic, it's a pair of dirty shorts). Ranger, in his eternal quest to be loved, somehow found a couple extra inches to plant his rear beside Shadow. Silly dogs, how I love and hate you!