I am a mother and I am a bad one.

If bad kids result from bad parenting then I'm going to assume the same formula is true of puppies.  And I have a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad puppy.  Someone told me yesterday that the word, "epic" is annoying.  Is it?  I don't think I say it much but maybe I do.  But from now on I'll only use it to talk about Luke.  Because he's big.  And awesome.  And so bad.

He does look good here but he's not.

Someone asked us about owning a Labradoodle and where we got him.  I laughed.  You do not want a Labradoodle.  You want a dog that has been given up or found or isn't wanted and is going to be killed in a shelter.  That's what you want. Make sure the dog is nice first (and there are  A LOT of nice dogs people don't want anymore, dogs that are great with kids and even some that don't shed much).

 If you want to adopt a rescue dog (you do) go here.  Health Mutt is an awesome store with a great staff of people that love animals and want every dog to have an owner that loves them.  Kendra can tell you about some organizations that match potential dog owners with great dogs.  Dogs that have had tough lives and just want families to love them.  I know.  I'm a dog lover to the core.  I think sometimes of how Luke could be sitting in one of those kennels with no one to love him and I start to cry.  Really cry.  How did I turn into my mother?  I don't blame you if you stop reading now.  Not because I turned into my mom, but because I'm that girl.  I am a dog person. 

As adorable and awesome and "epic" as Luke is, he is a pain in the butt.  He destroys everything I like and if I don't like it and WANT it destroyed, he doesn't either.  Case in point, he couldn't care less about beef jerky.  But start eating candy, or a salad in front of him he is all up in my face trying to lick whatever I'm eating on the way into my mouth.  It's nuts.  He chewed up our extension cord this morning.  HE WILL BE FOUR YEARS OLD THIS YEAR.  He has so many toys. He will be f-o-u-r years old this year.

Here he is.  Baby Luke. Destroying at birth.

  

Here he is.  Toddler Luke.  Thinking about how to destroy something.

Things Luke has destroyed of little value that I took pictures of.  Things of great value (you know, sofas, bedding, my shoes) I was too mad to take pictures.  

Apparently Luke is a Republican.  Or just doesn't like moving forward.  

That actually explains a lot. 

This is Matt's new CD.  The super secret CD that was picked up at the Atlantic headquarters to make sure the songs on this CD were going to be the songs on his album. Luke didn't like it.  He gave it two thumbs down.  And yes, he ate the jewel case too.  And no, he has no issues digesting sharp pieces of plastic.  The guy's a shark.

But oh how I love that big guy.  Even if he isn't very smart.  Maybe he is smart and knows what makes me mad and only does that.  Maybe he's smart in a Stewie Griffin kind of way.  The bad way.  On the flip side he is super cuddly and snuggles whenever I want.  That is nice.  Most importantly,  he puts up with our need for Christmas pictures.  We take one every year and he's always game even though he looks sad and depressed in every one.  I present to you, the Hires' family Christmas album for your viewing pleasure.

I really love our dog.  Matt will be mad that I told people all of the bad things about our pup.  He is so bad.  He keeps on his bad-ness because we love him so much and can't resist his sad puppy face when we ignore him for being bad.  I'm going to be a terrible mother because I think the way I punish Luke is going to translate to the way I punish a kid.  By cuddling and kisses.