Honey & Ricku [Rico]

Honey Bunches of Oats, Honey Dew, Rickiku, Rickola; my friends and family came up with a bunch of different names after we adopted our dogs.

Honey was my saving grace when my first dog, my best friend of 16/17 years died. Her being the handful, the feisty puppy she was when we got her. I originally started crate training her, but quickly threw that away when my first dog was put down for health reasons. I would sleep with her in my bed, she would cuddle with me under my comforter, lay next to my feet, and by my face.

Training her was far different than training my first dog, I'd attribute that to temperament, breed. She knows the concept of sit and stay but doesn't apply them well.

Honey knew when Brutikis passed, she could feel the difference in the house. For about a week, Honey was less of a handful and I was thankful.

The process of adopting Honey was kind of an arm twist, my mom was against us getting a second dog. But when we were at her friend's house she was telling us how there were 2 puppies left she couldn't find homes for. She didn't exactly have space for them. My friend and I were there and picked up one, a little jelly bean as I called them. She nuzzled herself into my neck and I just melted.

I looked up at my mom and I pleaded with her, telling her that I would be home all summer, I would have time to take care of her and train her. That it would be nice for Brutikis to have a friend, and since she would be like a quarter his size, we wouldn't have to worry about her hurting him.

My mom gave in and around June/July we fully adopted Honey and brought her home. Introducing her and Brutikis was easy and kind of funny. He was a fairly easy-going dog, very playful, protective. All I needed to worry about was whether or not Honey got out of her pin- would Brutikis lay on her on accident.

I would give them time to be around each other when Honey wasn't sleeping the day away, she would climb over him, play with his ears, his tail. They had a good month together before he passed.

Honey adjusted to being the only dog in the house, however being the smallest was kinda tricky. My dad being the big man he is, almost stepped on her a few times. He was used to Brutikis sitting next to him at his desk and being able to put his hand on his armrest to pet him.

It was 2 months and my mom caught my dad looking at dogs on adoption sites, she called him out on it, was I ready for another dog?

My dad called me into the living room with him and we all talked as a family, my brother, myself, and our parents. He told us that he couldn't handle having just a small dog, that he missed having his companion. So we laid ground rules. We started out with no labradors, then it was we'll try a yellow lab, and then I cemented on no black labs. My dad really wanted another labrador. So he looked and he found a chocolate labrador, Ricku.

We piled into the car one weekend and drove about an hour or so to a dog park. We met up with a woman and her friend. She told us how her husband was deployed, and she was getting ready to deploy too. Originally she was asking for $100, but she heard my dad, and what he said about our first dog. She said "as long as you're a loving family. I just want him to have a good home."

We took him home, and that first night was an experience, we all sat in the living room with him. He was energetic but we could tell he was going to have a hard night. I held Honey, and let them meet each other for a bit. When we went to go to bed, my parents agreed to let him sleep in the house, before getting him used to the crate we had. However, it backfired, he peed right in front of my parent's doorway. Ricku is a very obedient dog, he was already crate trained, and housebroken, he wasn't leash trained though. We've tried a few times, to leash-train him, but man he has power behind him.

Getting him, a very energetic, with bright eyes, still a puppy used to our dynamic. Honey, took charge between the two of them, she bullies him a little, but they get along very well.

We moved into a house recently, that has a pool and we learned that Ricku, is the sink type of dog. They have gained a rivalry with 2 returning ducks we have named Bonnie and Clyde. We have also learned thanks to a side gate that doesn't fully latch, unless slammed, that Honey is the explorer type. Not Ricku though, he likes staying in the yard, the farthest he's gone is the front yard or the court. Honey, unfortunately, has traversed the neighborhood, and she did so on the 4th of July. Fireworks were going off, and I couldn't find her.

I was a mess, we couldn't find her for an hour. My mom posted to this 'Neighbor' app and someone replied saying that they saw a dog like her 10 minutes down the main road. My mom, myself, and 2 of my friends climbed into her car and we sped down the road and we drove up and down the streets looking for her, trying to spot her tail. We drove down the main road, hoping we would see her, and we spotted a car pulled over on the side of the road. We slowed down and there she was walking out from behind the car. My mom swerved off the road and my friend Esme jumped out of the car with me to grab her as she ran to the car. I held her so tight as she licked my face, I for a moment I was gonna hurt her. She was so dusty, I was worried she was hurt but glad to have her back.

I love them both, no matter how much they drive us crazy.

I wanna say a very special thank you to my mom's friend Nadine for letting us/offering to let us adopt Honey. She really helped me out after Brutikis.

I also wanna say a very special thank you to the couple who let us adopt Ricku, you helped both my dad and me.

Thank you.