2 and 13, 13 and 2

I did not expect to have this kind of age gap between our dogs. These two were born the same week though! Scout on May 24, 2013 and Maverick on May 18, 2024. They came from the same breeder right outside of Louisville. 

Akin to how most people plan out an age gap between kids, we planned out dog age gaps...initially.

We got Scout in the summer of 2013 and within 6 months Scott was hankering for another dog because he wanted Scout to have a friend. I couldn't really argue it but also did not want a second dog. When it comes to what's best for a dog though, it's generally not good for a dog to be alone (did Austen write that? I think so. Or it's in Genesis). 

So we got Jett when Scout was about 11 months old and then we had two dogs, about a year apart and it went on like that. There was a lot of moving and upheaval for several years but I always knew Scott wanted a THIRD dog at some point. 

When we bought our house in Missouri in 2021, it was on the table. Summer is the prime time to get a hunting dog, but I was pregnant with Sutton that first summer, then we had a newborn/infant, then I was going back to work and we were dog-sitting all summer,  and then we finally had a window to get a puppy. Jett was diagnosed with a few terminal issues in 2024 but we'd already made plans to bring this puppy home. 

We picked up Maverick in July 2024 on the day of the attempted Trump assassination in Butler, PA. (Interesting fact.)

Jett passed away in December 2024 and then we were left with an 11 year old dog and a 7 month old puppy. 

The idea was that Scout could help show Maverick how life worked and that Maverick would keep Scout young. 

Maverick is a HARD dog to like, unfortunately, so Scout has not been a willing participant. Turns out Scout never wanted a friend, even in Jett. He has the personality an true only child. In Scout's defense, Mav is a bit of a bully...very much like Jett, actually. Jett was a rough puppy. Mav was the only male in a litter of 3 pups and he insists on being the center of attention at all times. It's exhausting. The kids like him. Scott likes him. He overstimulates me, tbh. He has no social or spatial awareness. However, he loves us and our daily runs through the local fields are the only thing that keeps his behavior in check. His intentions are pure, though. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body. He doesn't bark or growl. He's a gentle giant (for a Brittany) at 40 pounds. My biggest complaint is that there's still a potential for him chewing everything he can find and is very unpredictable about it. 

As for the last year, Maverick went from being in a crate in Missouri during the day to having free reign of the house in Kansas. He has a doggy door and is able to come and go as he pleases. I think this makes an enormous difference in a dog's quality of life. He did catch a case of strangles last fall, which cost us about $1,000 in vet appointments and medicine in November/December. He actually has some permanent scarring on his nose, which is crazy. He took his second trip to Pennsylvania to see his "grandparents"this past winter. And now, given our recent move to a new house, he's on his 3rd house in less than 2 years. A true military fur-child.

Scout is still trucking along. He goes on daily runs through the fields. He eats voraciously, he wakes us up in the middle of the night when he's hungry (not kidding), and then he has crazy anxiety when the barometric pressure hits a certain level and storms are coming. Trazodone doesn't even work so I've started just giving Benedryl. Scout takes two heart medications (4 pills a day) and we started him on Prozac last summer and it's improved EVERYONE'S quality of life. He started having anxiety back in 2020ish and finally I was able to do something about it for him. He took his, approximately, 456th trip to Pennsylvania this past winter. Scout has now lived in 8 houses.

Scout is, we're pretty sure, completely deaf but his mind is sharp and he's still all there. He seems to have a soul behind those eyes and is always "speaking" to us about what he wants. Maverick, like Jett, is very dog-like. I can't explain this but I know it to be true.