Finnegan....just because

I took lots of photos of Finnegan for my photo class last week.  One came out particularly good so I wanted to share it.  To us, Finney is more than just a dog.  She is an integral part of our family. 

Just like everyone else in our family she has her quirks.  Finnegan is afraid of the kitchen floor in this house and won't come in the kitchen unless she is on her leash with no means of escape back into the living room.  Her paws just can't get traction on the laminate floor and she pretty much belly slides through to the back door.  This has done wonders for her weight and she has dropped 10 lbs. since she no longer cleans the scraps up from the floor.  It has also left me to do the daily kitchen floor clean-up without any pre-clean from Finney...sigh.  She also needs lots of encouragement to climb our stairs, runs from the vacuum cleaner, and requires a ridiculous amount of tries to jump up on our bed (when we are trying to convince her to sleep in a bit later on the weekends we invite her up on our bed).  But, her quirks are really all inside quirks.

Outside, she is all dog.  Brave, protective, excited to greet all the people we meet on our walks and less than excited to see the other dogs we meet.  She has never met a lawn she didn't want to sniff and when she senses a threat to her family (i.e., most little dogs passing by) the hair on her back stands on end.

She's getting a bit gray in her mouth and I think it makes her look distinguished.  She is 9.5 years young.  I hope she sticks around another 9 years because I just can't imagine our life without her.

We love you, brave Finnegan!

Now, please stop sneaking up on the couch and falling asleep on the pillow when you think I'm not looking.  You look cute and comfy and quite frankly it makes me want to join you.  I don't have as much free time to fritter about in naps so don't tempt me.  Thank you.