It's a dogs life

Look it's Matty. This is our almost 12 year old cocker spaniel. She was given to me when she was just 8 weeks old. My MIL gave her to me as a gift, and it may be one of the best gifts I have ever received. She is so incredibly smart(no inbreeding here...nosirreeeee bob) She has a vocabulary of about 50 words or so, she doesn't puddle like others in her breed, and she loves kids-actually the smaller they are, the more she likes them. She will start to whimper if she sees kids in the car next to us. She is a treat "whore" she will do anything for a treat which her favorites are baby carrot's, these doggy mints I get at Wal-mart, the end of D's banana in the morning. But she is not really picky about what she might beg from you, she will eat anything except tomatoes*fyi, we don't give her people food all that often, she acts like we do, but just the carrots* She will purposely ask to go out, pretend that she went potty, and then come in and ask for a treat (so she has got us trained) She now has to sleep in our master bathroom because she snores sooooooo loud. She insist that D say hello and give her a carrot before he even looks my way when he gets home from the office. She will start yodeling if he doesn't follow the order. I will have to get that on video sometime...Absolutely hilarious.
She had back surgery for a ruptured disc last Thanksgiving (those damn squirrels taunting her and making her run and jump up and down our retaining walls) and then we proceeded with physical therapy after that. I was driving 4o miles round trip to see her everyday, and then again to take her to physical therapy(not sure who else I would do this for???) So now she can't get up on any furniture(that is why she doesn't sleep with us anymore) and we also have to carry her up and down the stairs. So now we have gates everywhere to make sure she isn't trying to do it herself anymore.
Matty has a list of nicknames: Matty P, Cocker P, Master Pony, Missy Moo, Pog(pig +dog=Pog) Fatty Matty, the list goes on, but I will spare you. She is the center of attention at our house. When the kids call home they never foget to ask about Matty. We take her with us almost everywhere we go. In the summer I still take her with me, but I have combo locks on my car, so I can leave my car running, lock her in, and still keep her cool. It does get so hot that she will finally make it clear that she has no interest in the ride.
We are so lucky to have some old neighbors that love Matty, and if we go out of town they always watch her for us. She loves going over there almost as much as they love having her. They love her so much that she has been in their Christmas card picture with their kids...so funny when I opened it up, and realized that our dog was in their picture.
She can tell time, she absolutely knows when it is 5:00 p.m. that is dinner time as far as she is concerned, and if you are not right there to do it, she will come looking for you, and then the yodeling starts and doesn't stop until you go and feed her. She doesn't like toys, she really only likes big dogs, we are lucky because she has never really torn anything up, and she most definatly acts like a cat living in a dogs body. But with all her little quirks...she is our dog, she is the best dog we have each ever had, and she is such an important member of our family.