Carter Loves His Wrigley

Wrigley, our Gordon Setter, took to Carter as soon as he came home. This is how she introduced herself to him. I'm sure she smelled something dirty that needed to be changed. And yes, he is on the kitchen table. In my defense, he couldn't move yet, so he was safe. Well, safe from everything but Wrigley.

So, as Carter has gotten older, Wrigley has gotten wiser. She has associated Carter with the smell of food. At first, it was formula. In the spring, Wrigley gave Carter his morning bath of dog slobber to clean up any remnants of formula that might be on his face. Carter loved it! It doesn't look like it in this picture, but he really did enjoy the puppy kisses. He is about four months old here. Notice the empty bottle. This is Wrigley's cue to lick up the leftovers on his face.

Then, Carter started eating in his high chair. There is not only milk, but now there is baby food. Sometimes, the baby food would be swatted out of my hands by a flailing baby and hit the walls and the floor. Wrigley was right there to clean it up. Carter also discovered that Wrigley was near his high chair. Most meals now consist of some form of feeding Wrigley and pulling out her hair in large clumps as he yells at her. Carter is six months old here.

Now, Wrigley feels she is invited to every meal that Carter has. He eats mostly finger foods now, so some of it drops on the floor. During each meal, Wrigley lays beneath his high chair, and snaps up any drops of heaven that fall on the ground. After he is done eating, Wrigley cleans up the high chair for us (not the tray), and Carter thinks this is fantastic. We don't ever have to sweep up after his meals because Wrigley is our vacuum.

Carter is crawling all over the place. Wrigley does not understand that she is MUCH bigger than him, so she tries to play with him whenever he is mad dashing through our house. Carter thinks it is funny, but we are scared she might accidentally hurt him. On rare occasions, Wrigley is allowed out with Carter. Here is what happened the last time:

Wrigley is laying quietly on the floor, for once, letting me take her picture. Doesn't she have a pretty face?

Carter discovered Wrigley on the ground and crawled over to her. He is either trying to give her a kiss or bite her nose. Wrigley is checking him out for leftover food or milk on his face.

Carter then decides she would be fun to crawl over. I am telling him no, so he stopped for a second. Wrigley is looking at me saying "Please save me from this child!"

Carter then proceeds to attempt to crawl over her, even after I said no. No is an optional thing, right? Wrigley is allowing him to do this, but under protest.

After slipping and sliding, and me trying to remove him (although I didn't try hard because it was a very cute scene), Carter gave up. He then decided to come grab the camera from my hand. This is his close up.

As for the other dogs, Chance, our Golden Retriever, would prefer that Carter doesn't exist. If Carter gets close to him, he moves to the other side of the room. Chewy, our mixed breed, tries to eat the food off his high chair, but Wrigley pushes him out of the way. Chewy is lukewarm about Carter, but knows he is good for food.