All photos are mine.
First off, you should know that I am not an animal person.
Or rather, I wasn't an animal person. Years ago I said, "NO PETS!" but it turns out that my husband Patrick aka @serapium is a major animal lover. So then I capitulated and eventally said, "Okay, NO indoor pets!"
Then the children came along and someone had a kitten that needed a home. It was obviously too tiny to be an outdoor cat, so in came the kitten. Then it was the dog we rescued way back when we lived on the bus. Then it was another dog that was being given away at a garage sale... but they were outdoor pets. We still had the one cat inside, but still.
At one point back in 2014, we had two dogs, Diva (a 275 pound bull mastiff) and Kitty, a mutt that was full of black fluff... and we still had "Elephant" the gray kitten from way back when, who was now pretty much an outdoor cat because she hated the indoors.
I was adamant, "NO MORE PETS!" and this time Patrick was in full agreement.
Thennnnnn...
Well. Then I saw this adorable puppy on facebook that a friend shared. He was at a Rescue place 4 hours away from us, but my heart melted.
Yep, me. The ONE person in our family who was NOT an animal person.
Patrick said, "No more dogs!"
And then I showed him the puppy and said, "Buuuuut... I want it."
He replied, slightly confused, "Wait, what? YOU want a PUPPY???"
I said, "No. I want THIS puppy."
So we applied to adopt the puppy.
It was a tense few weeks as we waited for our application to be received and approved. I was on pins and needles, so afraid that they were going to say no, since we already had three pets. This puppy was on my mind day and night.
FINALLY we got the word that we could adopt him... when he was old enough. So, on January 20, 2014, we got in the car and drove the 4 hours to 'meet' Tiberius. (Patrick still insisted that he had to meet the puppy first, before he'd give his approval, and since he's the "dog whisperer" of the family, I knew it would be difficult for him if the dog wasn't it)
Anyway, long story short:
Tiberius has been THE best addition to the family.
I have loved all of our dogs. They've all been awesome dogs, sweet, well mannered, great with the kids, etc. There is definitely something special about Tiberius. I've never met a more cuddly, affectionate dog. He is so overly protective of anything he deems smaller than him. Kittens/cats, toddlers, babies, puppies... anything.
This is why we have Cinnamon, a Chihuahua that one of Patrick's coworkers found dumped out in the middle of nowhere alongside a busy highway that no one else wanted. Patrick once again said, "NO MORE DOGS!!!" and "ESPECIALLY not a yappy chihuahua!!!" Until he saw Tiberius with her... then his heart melted like the rest of ours and Cinnamon became part of the family.
I wanted to do some before and afters, because look at that adorable puppy and the gorgeous dog he's grown into!!!
The Boat Dog
Tiberius, of course, joined us on the boat. He LOVED the water. LOVED it. He'd ride to shore on the kayak with one of us twice a day and play fetch with the frisbee in the ocean, swimming back and forth for an hour or so every single day. Or, if the water was too shallow, he'd play fetch with his ball. On days when the weather didn't allow for a trip to shore, he would sit on deck and look longingly towards the beach. He's quite emotional about things like that.
On travel days, he'd sit by Patrick in the pilot house or lie down with Abyni on the trampoline (the mesh part attached to the front of the deck between the hulls) and sleep next to her until we weighed anchor or until she got up to come inside.
He went hiking with Jaedin up to the top of Monument Hill many times and chased the ball down the hill full speed ahead.
He really seems to miss the water, but he's happy enough back on land... as long as Patrick takes him for his walks twice a day. And by 'walk' I mean a trip to the park or the woods to run for a good long while.
This is a little behind the scenes. I was trying to get Tiberius to lick Jaedin like he was in the "before" photo, so I put some fat from ground beef on Jaedin's beard (he's such a good sport!) but it wasn't happening. Tiberius just looked at Jaedin @knightengale like, "Dude, no. That's gross. What's wrong with you?"
In case you were wondering, everyone (including the other pets) love Tiberius and now that it's just him and Cinnamon (plus a few new cats) since our other pets have gotten old and passed away, he is terribly spoiled. ESPECIALLY by Patrick. The one who at first said "NO WAY!"
And one last photo before I go:
