Clemson Easy Drew Pitbull Dog Say Drew

In January, our family added a third dog to the family because well, we're clearly 100% committed to a life that's just never quiet.

(Side note: We're also really not that smart…note the cute puppy sleeping on the WHITE patio furniture.  Where was my HEAD when I ordered white patio furniture last year?  Seriously, where was it?!  Nothing says "sit on me with your red popsicle" quite like a white patio cushion. Sigh)

A-n-yway, back to my point, we now have three dogs and just like kids, they're all three very different, unique, special and well, quirky 🙂 .  I thought I'd do a little post today where I shine the spotlight on each one and share some unique qualities about the pups.  On Saturday morning, I had grand visions of capturing a sweet picture of all three dogs lying side by side.  You know, like the ones you see on Pinterest!  They were going to be overlapping their legs just a bit, snuggled down into each other and sleeping (of course!).  I took them outside for our photo shoot and please let me proudly share our finest portrait…

…needless to say, as the travel industry continues to tank, I will be opening up Mix and Match Mama Take Pics of Your Dogs instead.  It is just so Pinterest worthy. Ha!  Geez…I was going to write a post gushing about each one but after trying to wrangle them for a picture, I'm now going to give them all away.  #kidding #icantgivethemawaybecausepeoplecantcomeovertogetthem

Have you watched Tiger King yet on Netflix?  I had visions of Joe Exotic's tigers running around in circles after each other in their big cage as I was trying to snap pictures…

…what is happening here?!  Just SIT STILL!  Good grief!  I asked Andrew to help and he was pretty much like "yeah, they're not picture posing dogs".  Um, no, no they're not.  What they are though are sweet dogs 🙂 .  Here's a little bit about each one…

We have two coton de tulears and one labradoodle.

Andrew and I spent a loooong time at Barnes and Noble years ago pouring over dog books to find the right breed for our family and landed on this somewhat obscure breed from Madagascar.  We fell in love with our first one so much that it was an easy decision to buy a second one.  The labradoodle?  Well, my friend Kari has two and they're suuuuuper cute, so that's why Smith got it into his head that our next dog needed to be that breed.

So, here we are…four kids, three dogs, two parents and a partridge in a pear tree.

Let's start with…

…our Poppy Popsicle.

Okay, here are a few Poppy facts…I have always heard the phrase "alpha dog".  It's a common phrase that over the years, I've heard and/or used multiple times.  I never truly understood what that meant though until I met Poppy.  She IS an alpha dog.  I don't know what alpha dog gene it is that God gives some dogs over others, but Poppy got extra.  She is the boss.  She is in charge.  She is the leader of the pack  FOR SURE!! Now, to know Poppy is to love her because she's sweet as can be!  Over and over again, I have people from the vet to the groomer to the neighbors tell me they're so surprised by her age (8) because she has so much ENERGY!  She can out run/ out play/ out chase any puppy we bring over here.  She is fast, quick, fun and spunky to her core.  Andrew and I keep waiting for her to "act her age" but it's yet to happen.

Poppy is our early riser.  The other dogs sleep late, but Poppy rises and shines with us around 4:00 AM, but now since she gets up so early, she also goes to sleep early. Poppy has a little dog bed next to my side of the bed and each and every night, no matter what we're all doing, she puts herself to sleep at 9:00 PM.

Poppy isn't a cuddle kind of dog.  She loves to follow me around the house and lay next to my chair while I'm working, my feet while I'm cooking, on the floor next to me folding the laundry…she is always near me.  Right this minute, I'm sitting at the bar in the kitchen typing and she is asleep under my barstool.  She follows me, she lays down, she sleeps and we repeat.  Poppy has always slept a big part of the day.  When she's up, she's UP, but when there is no one to chase, she's napping.

When we feed the dogs (twice a day), Poppy always walks into the laundry room first to eat.  The other two dogs sit at the door and wait.  When Poppy is done, she gives this little head nod and the other two dogs walk in.  If they go in before that, she growls them back to their places.  She has been doing this with Frenchie since day one, so we were curious to see what she would do when she was outnumbered, but no, it took her like 5 minutes to whip Yankee into shape too.  They both wait, Poppy eats, then, Her Majesty graciously allows the other two to eat 😉 .

Poppy's hobbies are running around (she loves to run), trying to chase any sort of bird/squirrel/etc back up trees, chewing on bones and dragging around her blue dragon toy.  If Poppy had to pick a favorite Shull, she would say me.  She is not interested at all in Smith or Kensington, tolerates Madeley, likes Ashby and respects Andrew.  Poppy is not allowed on the furniture.  The minute Andrew goes to work/gym/etc, she hops up on the couch and sleeps in this one spot.  The SECOND she hears him come in, she gets down.  When I come and go, she sleeps right through it, but when Andrew opens the back door, she immediately wakes up, gets down and acts like "what? what?  I wasn't up there".  Every day.

We love our Poppy.

Two years ago, we gifted Poppy a little sister (a.k.a. someone to boss around)…

…and our sweet Frenchie Macaroon joined the family :).

Frenchie was Kensington's 9th birthday gift and to say they have a sweet relationship just does not do it justice.  They are in love!!!!  Frenchie is two years old and the tiniest of the group.  Where Poppy weighs closer to 9ish pounds, Frenchie is more like six.  She's small and sweet and shy and loves to snuggle and cuddle.  We always say that this dog was one in a million because she is just so compliant and SWEET.

Frenchie is our late sleeper!  She goes to bed with Kensington every night, and then we don't see her again for 12 hours.  If it's a school morning, we make K wake her up to take her out and feed her, but if it's the weekend/summer, she'll easily sleep until 10:00 AM.  She loves to sleep snuggled right up next to either Kensington or Ashby.  This weekend, the kids were all sleeping in our room in their sleeping bags and I snapped this pic…

…quintessential Frenchie right there.  She never barks, never causes trouble, lets Poppy be the boss, and follows Kensington around EVERYWHERE.  When K goes to school every day, she goes up to K's room and sleeps in her little bed under Kensington's desk until I either call her down or K comes home from school.  She gets along with everyone, but for sure her two favorites are Kensington and Ashby.  She'll snuggle up with whomever is sitting down, but she adores those two.  Ashby has even said before that she doesn't need a dog because Frenchie is her dog too…and Frenchie totally agrees.

In January, Smith finally got his…

…Yankee Doodle.

This sweet labradoodle puppy is our newest family member, and we're all so smitten!  She is already larger than Frenchie and should be larger than Poppy too.  She is all legs when she runs, likes to play fetch already, loves her bones, has a little stuffed animal she snuggles with when she sleeps and follows Smith around constantly.

So far, she also appears to be really submissive (but compared to Poppy, all dogs are submissive), really good natured, compliant and easy.  We're still working on potty training her, but feel like she's almost completely there.  All three of our dogs were crate trained and Yankee is still sleeping in hers.  The other two dogs like to get in their crates to hang out/sleep/relax but don't sleep through the night there any more.  Since Yankee is still a puppy, she still sleeps in hers, but seems to love it!  She always climbs right in and never whines.

Yankee has been an easy addition to our family and all three dogs seem to really enjoy each other.  You know how it is, dogs are pack animals, and they enjoy being together.  All three dogs like to go for daily walks, but Yankee seems to enjoy it more (and often goes on multiple walks a day!).  I have already noticed that she doesn't sleep nearly as much as the other two, but is content just hanging out when they are resting.  Smith is for sure Yankee's favorite, but she loves Ashby too.  Ashby really is like the dog whisperer over here.  All dogs including my brother's and my parents' love Ashby and she loves them.

Yankee and I enjoyed sitting poolside together over the weekend.  BUT…

…Miss Poppy, as always, stayed right by my side.

So, there you go, a little insight to the Shull pups for your Tuesday!  I always grew up with dogs and cats (and a ferret) and can't imagine not having pets in our home too.  We just love our animals 🙂 .  Do you have a pet?  I want to know names!  Comment and share!

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Source: https://mixandmatchmama.com/2020/03/my-three-dogs/