Bleu Valentine

Seven years ago today, our baby Bleu was born on a farm in Elkhart, Texas.  We should have named him Romeo since he was born on the day of love and also because he is such a loving dog. However, Holland wanted to be able to say " You're my boy, Bleu!". 

It all started with Holland saying that he wanted to go LOOK at some Catahoula puppies on this farm and I said YEAH! Lets go for a look! Well we made the 2 hour drive and talked with the breeders and they showed us the entire bloodline of Bleu's ancestors.  We weren't so interested in that since we weren't going to breed him or anything. However, I specifically remember the guy saying that 

These are WORKIN' DOGS. They are no sit around the house dogs. They need to be out chasing hogs, hunting and such". We totally agreed that we were going to WORK him. :)  He was just too cute, we couldn't pass him up.....we had to lie :)

 We got Bleu in May( the end of our first year of college). Holland was living in the dorms and I was living in my first apartment by myself. We had this brilliant idea to keep Bleu in my apartment without paying a pet deposit since he would only be there for two weeks. Holland and I made sure he was never alone, it was like baby duty. We were busted within a week and we took him to Austin to stay with Hollands sister until we finished our finals and went home for the summer. It was a sign of things to come because while Bleu was staying with Hollands sister and her husband, Bleu pooped all in his crate and then stepped in it and somehow flung it all over their guest room like a crazy spider monkey.

Needless to say, we rented a carpet cleaner and I can still see the image in my head where Holland is carrying Bleu with his arms stretched out to the tub to rinse off all the mess. Thank goodness Allison and Kevin were renting!

As I just mentioned with the crate incident. We had it coming. Really it was our own fault because we had picked a dog breed that should be working and not staying in a house. Well if someone ever tells you this please see below for a clear image of what can happen.

Yep, thats our boy!!! So proud that he is so smart. If you want to see or hear some other mischief he has gotten into read here: Bleu's Chocolate Pie

 Regardless of all the trash, throw up, mess we have ever had to clean up from Bleu, he has truly brought us a ton of joy and I am so glad we drove to Elkhart that day to "look" at puppies.

Some things that Bleu LOVES:

1) Bleu LOVES the lake. He was afraid at first to swim but that quickly changed and we still have a hard time getting him to stop swimming near any body of water.

 2) Pools. Bleu always likes to swim in my parents' pool. We call it "Doggie Day Care".

 3) Watching TV. He got really great at this when Holland was in college :)

 4) Relaxing.  I have been telling Holland we should send this picture to the people we bought him from and tell him he is a good working dog. :)

 Oh Bleu, I cannot believe you are seven today.  I cannot even begin to think how different our lives would be. You have taught us to be patient, how to become extremely OCD and lock everything up including the fridge. The biggest lesson you have taught me is to forgive, move on and get over it. All the messes can get cleaned up and as long as you are safe, that is all that ever really matters.

Happy Birthday Bubby Bleu! We love you.