Our dog has issues...

We have a border collie named Brody. (You guys probably already knew that) Border collies are supposed to be one of the most intelligent breeds, and incredibly agile, and from what I've seen, I think that's true. But then there's Brody. And sometimes we wonder about him. He has his intelligent moments...and then he has his moments of "lesser intelligence"....or maybe stupidity. Brody is also larger than the average border collie. At the moment, he's around 50 pounds. Most border collies grow to about 40 pounds. Brody is only about 7 months old. He's definitely going to be a big dog....you should have seen his paws when we first got him! I think his coordination and his limbs have not had time to catch up with each other. Last week Joel and Brody were walking into the living room when Brody fell flat on the floor, spread eagle. He just fell, he didn't trip on anything. A couple of weeks ago I was talking to some teenagers on our front porch, when the dog turned around and walked straight into the grill. I was so surprised, I didn't know what to say. But I laughed hysterically. So far Brody has been very clumsy.

But the incident last night tops them all. Although Brody is a clumsy dog, he has recently gained enough courage to jump into the bed of our Dodge Ram 250 truck. (Same truck I've had since college, for those of you who remember). Sometimes Brody gets a little too excited and jumps before we have time to pull the tailgate down...and he smacks his head against the tailgate as its coming down. It's happened more than once. Last night Joel and I decided to drive downtown, take the dog, and go for a walk. When Brody realized he was going to get to come with us, he became very excited. Joel walked to the back of the truck, and started to unlock the tailgate, but then he heard a great thud and looked up to see the dog hanging from the side of the truck. Seriously. Brody got so excited, he jumped up to driver's side of the truck's bed, next to the wheel well, and tried to jump in. But it didn't work...he only got his front half over the top...his front legs were dangling over the top. But then gravity took it's toll, and Brody slowly slide down the outside of the truck, his nails scratching the side of the truck as he slid down. Joel laughed, and started to pull down the tailgate again, but once again Brody did not wait long enough for the tailgate to come down, and smacked his head on the tailgate. This did not deter him, and finally after the third try, Brody was able to successfully jump into the bed of the truck, happy as can be.

And now the side of our truck has scratch marks from the dog's claws. Thank you, Brody.