Day 6: 4-legged family members

I debated all day whether to share my thankfulness for great co-workers or wonderful neighbors (who have become good friends). But, I settled on our 4-legged family members. I have been a dog owner ever since I was rewarded for bringing up my grades in 6th grade. Since then I have never been without at least 1 dog (with the exception of a few days when we had to put Roxy down). Sadly, not all of the dogs we've owned have been a good match for us. But for the past 5 years we have been blessed with the most perfect mutt who adopted us to get away from an abusive home (at least that's what we think happened before she came to us). And for the past year we have been blessed, and sometimes annoyed, with our little black lab/Korgi mix. Both dogs have been a perfect match for us.
Fetcha, our yellow mutt, is technically P's dog. He found her, begged for her, named her and worked with her to trust others. She's a faithful dog, so mellow you hardly knows she's around and you can set your clock by her because at 9pm she'll pace until one of us put her in her crate. The only time she'll show any form of aggression is toward another dog if she feels her boys are in danger. If I am walking her and another dog approaches us, she wants to play with it. But if her boys are walking her, she'll snarl any time a new dog gets close to them. Her only quirk is running away if the door is left open. Unfortunately, she has run to the main road outside of our subdivision and we worry about her getting hit by a car. 9 times out of 10, P is the only one who can get her back home. Most nights she'll curl up in her bed in his room as he falls asleep. If he's had a rough day, she will sit by the side of his bed so he can stroke her fur until he falls asleep. Sadly, she is a shedder so she is not allowed on any furniture. (Although once in awhile we do catch her up on P's bed!)
Our other mutt, Charlie, became E's dog last October when we fell in love with him at a fall festival. They have been inseparable ever since! He's a tad high strung but, when we get home from school, we let him out to play with his best friend (who, ironically, is the dog of E's best friend). Playing with Otis usually wears him out enough to relax the rest of the night. He never strays far from the house or the boys. If he gets left outside he stays by the door until one of us let him in. He plays with other dogs fairly well (once he lets them know he thinks he's in charge) and he wags his whole butt when he gets excited about something. He loves to lay next to me on the couch and for some reason he loves to be rubbed by my feet. He'll sit under my foot until I "pet" him with my toes. Sometimes he will crawl up on the boys' beds at night but most of the time he has "his" place on the couch. If anyone sits there, he paces until the person gets up. I think his favorite place in the whole world is deer camp. We've only taken him there once but he ran ALL weekend, scouting out new scents! He wagged his butt the entire weekend and it seemed like he smiled for 48 hours straight.
It took the dogs a few weeks to get used to each other but now they get along great. We quickly learned to feed them separately and not to give them bones when they're together. So now they get along as well as any siblings. They look as different as night and day and their personalities are polar opposites, but they are both perfect for our family just as they are. I am so thankful for our faithful, fun loving 4-legged family members!!