My puppy

Now 14 months old, born Dec. 23, 2011. I just discovered I have a superstition.

I wanted to include a picture, but I can't. It seems that many times in the past, when I've taken a picture of a puppy I've grown attached to, it has died shortly after. I didn't know I had this superstition until now. I'm not that kind of guy, but there it is. I just can't do it. But I can talk about him.

At 7000 ft. elevation it is below freezing at night this time of year. My puppy Max (Maximus Pooponus) has a five gallon water bucket that gets a few inches of ice on it over night. Max just licks a hole in that to get to the water which provides me a handhold to pull the icecap (near a gallon) out of his bucket (adding water before and after.) I worry about it being too cold for him, but he dispels that worry every day when I see him, happy to see me. That is a great feeling.

When he was real little I used to keep him in my RV. He destroyed that RV when he was nothing in size compared to today. Chewed everything, including all the wiring under the dash. I had a bed sitting on a box spring in the back that he used to sleep under. One morning I came and thought I'd found him dead. He had chewed on the netting under the box spring and wrapped it around his neck hanging himself by it. I crawled half under that bed to see what I could do. He wasn't moving or making a sound and I was sure he was dead. I couldn't tear the netting so I had to untwist him and he didn't move at all. Finally I got him out from under the bed. He was alive. Then he got big enough to chew the curtains. It was time to move him to the yard.

He loved it. The first thing he did was start chewing the wood that supported the A/C unit in one window. Had to fix that. I buy him toys but he ignores those. His favorite thing is to chase the plastic water bottles after I empty them into his five gallon water bucket. He particularly likes the one gallon ice tea containers with their thick plastic and handle. We've had family dogs when I was a kid, but he's my first puppy. I'll be 54 the end of next month. But I do not confuse him with being a person. Still, he makes me happy. Not much does.

Sorry, but you get no picture. I'm very disappointed in myself about that.