That can't be comfortable

Yesterday, Bubba lay down next to me on the couch while I skyped with my parents and younger sister. As I scratched his belly, he rolled over onto his back. Then he aligned his neck and chin against the throw pillow propped up against the armrest. After a few more wriggles, with his body flush against the back of the couch, he did a perfect 90 degree angle. He lay in this position for a good 10 minutes before rolling over to look at me reproachfully for having stopped his belly rub.

Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of him doing the right angle since I was skyping with my mom (although I did get to show him to her). If I had a tablet and stylus, I would draw it for you. But I don't, so here's a picture of him on another occasion getting his belly rubbed. It's very gratifying when he makes my incidental scratching seem like the best thing ever in the world. Also, man is he flexible!

I'll do anything for treats... play will do too, I guess

Within a few days of adopting Bubba, we discovered that besides being irresistibly cute, he was also really smart. He came potty trained as advertised but also had "sit and shake" down pat. In the past year, we have added "down", "up", "leave it" and a few other tricks to his repertoire. He learned most of the tricks within a day, the more difficult ones took a few sessions. The showiest trick is one that Ryan taught him to do in less than a week. Here's Bubba and Ryan doing "Bang!":

Edit: Video is fixed. Enjoy :)

My Dog Bubba

Inspired by the British animation, "My Dog Tulip" and Ryan's suggestion, I too want to have a written (digital) record of Bubba's life. Inevitably, this blog will also be about Ryan, the guinea pigs, and me as we share a home and interact with each other. I will of course try my utmost to keep the spotlight on the protagonist of this story: our very good yet very bad, completely loveable yet exasperating not-so-little dog.

Bubba came to us when he was four months old in July 2009. When Ryan and I moved to Charlottesville, Virginia at the end of June, we knew that we wanted a dog but we agreed to wait till I found a full-time job. Being the one in the relationship that grew up with dogs, I firmly insisted that we would adopt an adult dog because puppies require more work and time.

Acquiring Bubba involved a series of bad decisions. First, I started looking at dog profiles on shelter websites and craigslist as soon as our internet was set up a few days before starting my part-time job. Mistake number two happened when we saw the picture of this happy beagle puppy lying on his belly on a patch of grass and called the number on the craigslist ad. That he was already potty trained was our excuse for even bothering to follow up on a puppy. When we met Bubba the next day, we committed the final fatal error by offering to match the highest bid thus far; there was no doubt that we had to bring that happy puppy home and we had to change his name.

A year and 3 months later, we obviously accomplished the former but failed at the latter. We've had numerous adventures, a bunch of fights, and tons of cuddles. I never regretted those "bad choices" that brought this awesome dog into our lives. And I look forward to many more years of walks, playtimes, being lazy together, and being patient with each other.