Life with a teenager ... and belated birthday wish

My beautiful, blond boy is now 17!  

I think.

Maybe.

Peabody and Sherman (Thunder) - aged 5

OK, so maybe it seems weird to other people that I am celebrating my dog's birthday.  Especially since 1) I don't know what month he was born and 2) he came from a rescue.

Age 5 ish - about a month after adoption

I used to 'celebrate' his birthday each year on his adoption anniversary (February 14) ... it was an easy date to remember - the gift that keeps giving and all of that.

Tonight when I took him on his ever briefer and briefer saunter, we are now down to five blocks from six about a month ago, it dawned on me that when he escaped from his previous home and went to foster care, it was Halloween.  In fact, he and Peabody (his partner at the time) made a jail break a couple of days before Halloween and got to go trick or treating with their foster family!  

Age 14 - and we thought that was old ...

Shortly after arriving in foster care, a vet determined that both boys were five.  Yep, old enough for kindergarten, to know better, and to have some pretty decent manners.  The manners disappeared after the gel ink on the contract dried and so did the common sense, but their age was officially five.

More or less present day as a
typical teenager, no?

So, the one who determines the schedule for:  meals, treats, exercise, and bed (sound like a real teenager) - the one who sleeps all day, ignores me when I call him to dinner (and then wants anything but what has been made for him), makes me smile daily ... you get the idea ...

Thunder is now 17!  To think I was impressed when he was 16!

to truly learn love, live with a dog