The Little Man.

A couple of months ago I did a post about my Sirius and how he was turning 4 years old. Well, just the other day it happened again.   My little man, who's actual name is Orion, turned 3 years old.

I'm pretty sure that means he's officially an adult now. He's pretty much been an adult dog for a year and a half now,  but I think since he's 3 now, I can't be in denial about it anymore.
It's all just happening too fast! Stop growing!! I guess I'll give them until 5, and then I'll be in total denial about how old they are.  I'm pretty sure most women are in denial about THEIR age, but me? No, I'm in denial about my dog's age. Does this mean I have a problem? Anyway, here's some of my favorite things about the Little Man.

Full Name:
Orion Hittenmark You may remember that Sirius has a pretty ridiculous name. Somehow, Orion never got any additional names.   Maybe it's because he wasn't named for a Harry Potter character and because he didn't have a last name we had to hyphenate when we got married. I dunno how Sirius ended up with a name that is eight words long and Orion only got two.
Birthday:
April 1st, 2010 We don't actually know Orion's birthday because he's a rescue.  We estimated. And we liked the fact that his birthday would be April fools day.

Super Dog.

Breed:
Australian Shepherd and..... Lab? Duck Tolling Retriever? Great Pyrenees? We have no idea. Jeremie thinks it's Duck Toller and I could see that but the rescue told us Great Pyrenees.   I can't see that one.  He's 55 pounds and not all that fluffy.
Nicknames:
The Little Man Mischief Man

Snuggles with his brother.

Quirks:
Hates loathes it when you blow a raspberry on him. Loves to snuggle (when HE feels like it. Not when you feel like it). Loves to give high-fives. Loves Dad best. Loves to make-out with Dad's face (I know this sounds kinda bad but Orion loves to give kisses to Jeremie and sometimes he just won't stop). Will jump on the bed whether he was invited or not (including at 2 in the morning when we're so asleep that we don't even notice until we wake up in the morning. I'm pretty sure he's figured out that's how he can get away with sleeping on the bed).

Fears:
Ummm...seriously, I don't think he has any. 
True Story:
So, imagine this:
It's the very first day we have Orion.  We truly didn't even plan on getting him.  We had been looking for another dog and my friend who fosters for a rescue out of the South texted me one night and said that she had the perfect puppy for us.  He would be here the next day and she picked him just for us and no one even knew they were ready for adoption yet! 
So the next day she brings him right over to our house and within minutes we had fallen in love with him.  We were able to keep him right away and we were about to find out just what we had gotten ourselves into.
It's just hours later and it's about time for dinner.  We soak our dog's food in water for about 30 min, before we put it down for them.  It helps with digestion.  Anyway, after I fill their bowls, Orion has officially figured out where we keep the food bin and he's figured out that he can use his nose to lift up the top of the food bin so he can get in and eat the food.  Again, we've had this dog for about 6 hours at this point and he's a 2 and a half month old puppy!!!
 We have a half wall that comes off our front door. It makes a little barrier between the entranceway and the living room.  Opposite that half wall is the closet where we keep the food.  So, I put up a gate at the end of our little entrance hallway so Orion can't get to the food bin.
Most dogs would give up there, right?  Like, oh hey, I guess they won.  Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.
Not Orion.
No, no.  Orion jumps up on the couch next to the half wall, continues to climb up onto the wall, walks down to the end of the half wall, jumps down and gets into the food bin. Never even coming close to the gate.
It was at that exact moment that we knew two things:
We had a pretty smart little guy on our hands.  His secondary name would be mischief man.
Yup, it took him all of six hours to acquire that nickname.  And now he's three years old and still our mischief man.  We couldn't love him more :)

Orion came from the Big Fluffy Dog Rescue which is based out of Tennessee. Check out their website here:

Big Fluffies

They're a great rescue to support!