Happy Birthday Sam (and Jackson)!!!

Yesterday, October 10th, we celebrated Sam’s 10th birthday!! All of our animals are rescues and we don’t know any details of the early parts of their lives, except Sam’s. He was actually very well cared for and was an owner relinquish at a local vet in Auburn and that’s how I cam to rescue him. So they had all of his first vet records and even knew his birthday!! I got him when he was a little over two years old. Here is a picture of him and our first night together 🙂

And this was us the night on his birthday Eve:

Same sweet boy.

Last weekend, we started the birthday festivities a little early and we purchased Sammy a dog bed. He’s been showing some signs lately of being a little stiff and creaky, especially after napping on the hardwoods. We have been giving the dogs joint supplements for a few years and it’s really helped them stay active and injury free. I mean, they still play like crazy fools. But, we thought Sam would like a nice fluffy bed to lay on. So, we picked one up at Costco!

He seemed thrilled! (not really). But we hoped we were on to a new trend and that he would start using his bed all the time.

Over the course of the week however, we made a really (unsurprising) but annoying discovery.

We have a security system, and periodically during the day it’s fun to check in on the “animal cam” to see where they are sleeping…but this!? Awful!!

The no good, very ungrateful, stinky dang cat has confiscated Sam’s bed in a brutal reign of terror. 😦 We tried. I did manage to catch this one sweet moment though:

Ah. Life as it’s intended to be.

I was in Auburn earlier this week for a recruiting trip for work and was picking up little gifts (always gotta bring gifts back from a trip!) and picked out the dogs birthday presents while I was in Toomer’s. New AU collars!!

I thought these were ridiculously loud BUT we’re in the thick of football season and AU is still undefeated So, hopefully, these collars are good luck today as we head to Starkville to play Mississippi State. (Ironically, next week, I am headed to Mississippi State to recruit too!).

It’s ridiculously hard to get big hairy dogs to pose in such a way that showcases their new neck swag. That’s the best I was able to do!

Since we don’t know Jackson’s real birthday, or real age, we assume him to be about a year younger than Sam, and based on when we got him we decided that October seems pretty likely for a birth month for him, so we celebrate his birthday on the same day and just call him a year younger. So, Happy 9th birthday Collie!

These furry dudes are our family. Rob and I don’t remember what it was like not to have them in our lives and I know Sam and Jackson don’t remember a time when they didn’t have each other. They are the fairly odd couple, bros for life, and the very best of friends and even though they drive us crazy with the hair, the leaves and grass they track in and their occasionally bodily accidents (proudly going on 6+ months without an explosive poop in the middle of the night!) we love them more than anything. I know that we really only have a hand full of birthdays left with them, and I want to make sure to make a big deal and remember all of them and give them the best senior dog years that we can.

And as I look up from finishing this blog post, this is what I see:

The struggle is real guys!! That cat is not as committed to their happy senior years as we are.

War Eagle and have a great weekend!