Meet our "Marley"

OK, so we finally got around to watching Marley & Me this past weekend and can I just tell you, this movie has touched me in so many more ways that I had ever expected. I definitely recommend it!

Oh, Marley! We couldn't help but laugh at all of his shenanigans because you see we too had a "Marley". I say had because luckily our "Marley" eventually outgrew all of those crazy behaviors and did indeed turn out to be the best dog ever.

Meet Mick (our Marley):


When we rescued Mick in January of 2003 he was about 6 months old, just slightly bigger than Copper and full of energy. We had just moved to Louisville in December and apparently didn't have enough going on so so we decided why not add an untrained puppy to our new household.

Mick was a terrible nightmare during his first year with us. He was not house broken and to make matters worse, he was truly wild. We could not leave anything out that we didn't want chewed or slobbered or peed on. He had to be gated in the kitchen or crated in the den in order to minimize the damages.

We quickly realized that what we had ahead of us was no easy task so we wasted no time in taking him to obedience training. I started with the training, but between the German lady trainer actually scaring the living daylights out of me and Mick being the unruly dog that he was the decision was made that Scott should be the one to continue with the training sessions. OK, so I made the decision. But he did so much better with Scott as his handler, or so I thought.

On graduation day I was so proud of Mick for making it through the entire training, that is until he pooped right in the middle of the room. During the graduation march. Humiliating! It's a miracle they actually released his certificate. Maybe it was my crying that moved them.

Anyway, so now we had a semi-obedient dog who thought it was OK to go potty whenever and where ever the urge hit him. It got the point where we would take him outside and he would sniff everything and walk around and literally do his business within minutes of coming back inside. Can you say FUN?!

We called a million different resources to ask for suggestions including his trainer, but she acted like she had no idea who we were. Funny, I thought for sure she'd remember the dog who pooped right in the middle of their most recent graduation ceremony. Oh well,...

This was so incredibly frustrating that on several occasions Scott and I actually looked up no-kill shelters to take him. We were at wit's end. So overwhelmed. But something happened every single weekend we thought would be his last with us. It was almost as if he knew and turned up his charm to irresistible levels. So he stayed.

Finally someone gave us some useful advice on how to fix the problem. And guess what! It actually worked. Suddenly things were clicking with Mick. Then he turned two. And this was the beginning of our wonderful life together.


Mick loves water. Whether he's drinking hundreds of ounces of it or swimming in it, either way it makes him happy! He loves chasing after sticks or balls or anything else you throw for him. Mick loves to chase our cats around the house. The cats on the other hand don't seem to like it so much. Mick is crazy about our other dog, Copper, and til this day totally loves playing with him and using him as his own personal squeaky chew toy.

Mick has been there for us when we've been through so many of life's difficult circumstances. He always knew exactly the right time to come over and put his head on our laps, as if telling us everything would be alright. He took to our children instantly and loves them and lets them play all over him. He is an awesome watchdog. He's always known when to watch over us and protect us, it's as if he can sense my anxiety level rising. He is one of the best crumb vacuums I've ever had (Copper being without a doubt the best ~ absolutely no food touches the floor when Copper's around).

Mick is a big 'ol baby and an awesome cuddler. He is a happy dog and often times actually looks like he's actually smiling. He is that dog. You know the kind. The one that people who walk through our door not liking dogs end up wanting to take him home with them. Yep, that's him. Our 100 lb lovable beast.


How this dog went from being the nightmare that he was to being the best dog EVER I'll never know. But what I do know is that we absolutely adore our Mickey, he is a huge part of our family and we can't imagine our house without him.