Beauty (and the Beast Within)

We have 2 dogs. Big dogs. Beautiful dogs. Boxers.

SuperHubby always wanted a Boxer. Boxers are great with kids. I'm a sucker for dogs. So three years ago, we made the bold step of acquiring one of these wonderful beings.

Layla is a gorgeous brindle, a silly girl, more than a little laid back. Okay, she's lazy. But she adores the boys and is very protective of all of us. She has always been, and will always be, Alpha dog in our house. She's also adorable...her tail was cropped to short, so when she's excited, her backside wiggles all the way to her shoulders.

Never ones to be content with any sense of simplicity, we acquired a second Boxer 6 months after Layla. Webber was a flashy red boy, so ugly he was adorable, with personality beyond measure. He stole my heart. He had issues (crate anxiety and excessive drooling were 2 of our favorites), but he was awesome. We lost Web to cancer after only 2 years. I miss him terribly.

Of course, Layla was devastated by the loss of her "child." She's always been very docile, while Web was the epitome of hyper. We found a new friend for her in Kane. Kane is a red boy with quite a bit of spunk, cropped ears that are crooked...and he looks like Elvis. Kane still acts like a puppy - even though he's 2 now - and has no idea that he's as big as he is (he thinks he's a lap dog).

We love our dogs. They have great personalities and they are gorgeous. But they stink. SuperHubby forgot to mention one little thing before we got them: Boxers are prone to excessive gas. I'm not talking your run-of-the-mill, oops-the-dog-farted farts, I'm talking peel-the wallpaper-farts. Silent-but-deadly whisper-biscuit farts. Semi-automatic-machine-gun-farts. There are times the flatulence is so great it sounds like some insane orchestra playing a rapid fire rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Stinky dog farts.

I love these dogs. But they act like they don't smell the odor. They act like they didn't make the odor. Or maybe they just don't care. All I know is that we've kept at least 3 local candle stores in business for the last 3 years.

Thank goodness these guys are pretty. They sure don't smell very good.