Laurie DeYoung Celebrates Her Dogs' Birthdays For "Merry Month of May" 🐶

May is a busy month. I wasn’t sure where the saying, “The Merry Month of May” came from, so I looked it up. Originally, it was a poem written in the late 1500’s by Thomas Dekker, as part of his play “The Shoemakers Holiday.” Others have also used that title for a novel, a children’s nursery rhyme, a film, an Irish folksong and a regimental march. But it looks like Thomas was the first one to coin the phrase so I’m giving him all the credit. Our May has been merry, we celebrated our son Taylor's fiancé Emily's birthday, our daughters graduation which was also a family trip, my kids wrote me lovely Mother’s Day sentiments this month, knowing that words are always one of my favorite gifts. My husband even gave me a ring with six stones, three of which represented our kids, the other three, our dogs.

Anyone who has ever listened to my radio show knows how I feel about dogs. Which leads me to my last two “Merry Month of May” celebration’s. Two of our three dogs were born in May. Tig, our youngest and smallest pup turned one on Cinco de Mayo and Jack our oldest will turn 14 on May 30th, next week. We don’t throw parties for them or force them to wear party hats, we just appreciate them even more on their special days. (Frida will have to wait until November when she turns 5). Tig is a Biewer Yorkshire Terrier, she is a tiny dog. We’ve had big dogs and small dogs but she is our first tiny dog. At her last vet appointment she came in at 2 pounds 15 ounces. She might just make it to 3 someday but she’s in no hurry. Tig is not a purse puppy or a lap dog as some would believe all tiny dogs to be. She is a fierce protector of our yard, she loves to strut around barking at nothing and I have never had a dog that can retrieve a ball for a longer period of time. She is tenacious. Other than me, she finds few options for playmates at our house because her “sister” Frida (an alpha) is still kind of mad that she’s around, and it bugs her that Tig gets so much attention from everyone. “Brother” Jack, who like Frida, is a Havanese, is just the opposite when it comes to his nature, he’s an omega who defers to everyone, but he just doesn’t have much interest in playing anymore, he’ll get a burst of energy every now and then but mostly he just wants you to feed him and let him sleep, oh yeah, and keep the water bowl full if you don’t mind. Jack rarely causes trouble. His worst offense is probably ripping up stuff he finds in the upstairs bathroom wastebasket or stealing one of the other dogs dinners when they aren’t paying enough attention. Our mailman leaves three dog biscuits in our mailbox just about every day. Jack usually gets them all. Frida doesn’t care about biscuits, Tig just wants to carry hers around for about an hour and then, when she gets distracted, Jack swoops in and takes hers albeit a might bit soggy by then, he doesn’t seem to notice. Like our kids, each of our dogs has a distinct personality. If I ever become a hermit I will blame it on our dogs, they’re just too fun to walk out on. When we do have somewhere to go and are looking thru the backdoor window while we’re turning the key in the lock they stand there in the kitchen staring at us with those big brown eyes that always make us want to reconsider our plans. If you’re a dog lover you probably understand how we feel if not, you can just write us off as being a bit quirky. But hopefully, these photos will make your month of May a little merrier! It’s almost over after all. One important note; it is my husband Ed’s habit to take pictures of Tig in various household objects. I hope you enjoy our slide show!