Intro to Rico

Either my dog has some serious mental issues or he's on crack. One of the two. If you have ever seen "Marley & Me" or owned a lab of your own, you should know what I'm talking about.

It all started in the end of 2009 when I started bugging my husband for a dog. Not just ANY dog, but a chocolate lab. (When I say "bugging", I mean seriously nagging. Brian definitely isn't the biggest fan of animals.) FINALLY, I managed to get him to agree to getting a dog, which came with terms and conditions. He wanted to wait until the spring so we could properly housebreak the dog.

Months went by as the fall froze into winter and the winter finally melted into spring. May 1, 2010 is when we started looking for a chocolate lab to become part of our family. A few days later we found ourselves in Huber Heights, and every time we're in Huber I make a point to stop at the pet store. Between us getting out of the car and getting halfway across the parking lot, Brian turns to me and says "Is that a chocolate lab that I see?". He definitely surprised me because I knew at that point that he had done his research and found somewhere with the kind of dog I wanted.

We got inside and there were two 8-week old chocolate lab puppies in the very middle of the store. One male and one female. I went back and forth between the two, but the male seemed to be the most affectionate and females are normally high strung anyway, so I told Brian I wanted the male. His response? "It's up to you." How could he set me up like that only to have me make the decision?? Of course I said yes! This little baby puppy, born on February 28, 2010, was so adorable and so loving and so perfect. We took him out to the car and he laid down in the back seat of my car in between the kids. At that point, he was about the same length from my elbow to the tips of my fingers. Thomas came up with his name - Rico.


Fast forward two years and he is now the size of a miniature horse. The last time he was at the vet, he weighed in at 93lbs. (I was at a yard sale today and they had some saddles for sale... I seriously thought about getting one for Rico and offering "pony rides" for small children.) He has calmed down considerably over the last two years. At first it was non stop energy. Now, it's bursts of energy... sometimes they're random, other times it's provoked. Most of the time though, it's when he's trying to get someone to play with him... in the house. He'll start randomly running back and forth through the house from one end to the other... over and over and over and over again until he's out of breath or until he jumps on the couch and lays down. You'd think he'd get all of his energy out while he's outside seeing as he has several acres fenced in (invisible fence) so he can run to his heart's content.


Other reasons for believing he's either crazy or on crack:

1. He has an obsession with ice cubes. I know most dogs like them, but we can't get a drink with ice in it without him jumping and panting until he gets an ice cube.

2. He likes to chew on his bones - while laying on his back. (What??)

3. He has completely chewed up a tennis ball into little pieces so the pieces got thrown in a trash can. He proceeded to get a piece out of the trash and still tried to play fetch with it.

4. When we come back to the house (just when we're in the truck, not when we're in either of the cars...) he runs from the house to the side of the yard where the tree line is and runs back before we pull up to the house.

5. He races cars down the driveway while simultaneously trying to eat the tires.

6. Cars passing by on the road don't bother him.

7. He goes insane if a tractor passes by or if one is in any of the fields around our house.

7. He won't jump up on our bed - we have to lift him. Our bed is 3 feet off of the ground... I have to use a stool to get into bed, but he won't use that either.

8. When he gets a bath and has to be blow-dryed (if it's in the winter or it's too cold outside for him to go out and dry off), he refuses to let you dry him off anywhere but in the master bathroom.

9. He doesn't drink out of the toilet (he's only done it once that I know of)... instead, he's obsessed with drinking out of one of the sinks in the master bath. He stands on his hind legs and puts his front paws on the edge of the sink and puts his whole mouth under the running water.

10. He is afraid of stairs. Whenever anyone goes into the basement, he won't follow you down... he stands at the top of the stairs and barks or lays down and waits for you to come back. Exception: when you walk down right beside him and tell him to come on. Catch: Once he gets down in the basement, he won't come back up on his own. No amount of treats, people food, or any other bribes will make him walk back up those stairs on his own. You have to get him to the bottom of the stairs and shove him back up.

11. He's afraid of the dark. He stays outside all day (unless it's raining or really hot or really cold) and he's fine ALL DAY... until it gets dark. Once the sun goes down, he uses any means necessary to make sure you know he wants in.

12. He chews his food. He doesn't gulp it down like the majority of dogs do. We've given him corn on the cob before and he doesn't eat the cob... he bites the corn off of the cob. Tonight he got an ice cream cone... he LICKED the ice cream and took bites of the cone. He eats like a human.

13. He really doesn't bark. He had never barked before Brian and I went on our honeymoon... it was always a wanna-be growl. But we left him at a doggy hotel where he had other doggy friends that liked to bark when we went to Pigeon Forge last October. They taught him to bark. So when we brought him home (he was there for 5 days), he barked at EVERYTHING. But he gradually quit barking again... on his own. Now he only barks if he sees something outside or if there is a tractor nearby.

14. He has his own spot on the couch and God help you if you're sitting in it. That's normally when you get a slobbery toy or bone laid on your lap.


15. When he goes to Petsmart, he picks out which new bone he wants... and he gets it. He also picked out his color leash and his color halter. Both are blue.



But on the other hand, there are many reasons that he is the most awesome dog ever....

Everything I listed above... and more! I don't think we could have asked for a better, more well-mannered dog if we had written down everything we wanted in a pet.