Mojo's Grandparents' House

Mojo loves to go to his grandparents' house. LOVES. 

The first thing he does when he gets there is run to their dog Sophie's room and eat her food. By then we run after him and try to catch him. He then runs a reckless lap around the house. He bounds up the stairs and we run after him and close doors so he doesn't go in any of the rooms. We catch him and take him to the back yard where there is more running amok. 

One of Mojo's top-speed laps around the house.

When he's tired he comes back inside, and finishes off any of Sophie's food he didn't get the first time. After drinking all of Sophie's water he then takes a nap. 

Ok, so someone takes a nap. Not necessarily Mojo.

When Mojo wakes up, he tries to bites the ears off Sophie's toys. 

I have sewn the ear back on this dog several times. Eventually I think it got eaten because the toy has two half ears. But I don't have to practice sutures on it anymore.

By then someone is snacking and Mojo shamelessly begs for food. He gets a lot of table scraps. It's one of the perks of visiting.

Another perk is that there are no baby gates. At our house we use baby gates to confine him to one part of the house. So he can't run up and down the stairs like a mad man (dog?). Seriously, the stairs are his personal Autobahn. So of course he runs up and down the stairs at their house. He likes going upstairs and looking down on the living room. He smiles so big when he does that.

He loves the backyard. We don't have one, but wish we did. He sprints at top speed around it. He sniffs the plant life and always begs for meat if his granddad is out there grilling. 

Being a shepherd, he loves having a flock to tend to. If we're not all in the same room, he'll alternate between hanging out with us and herding the stray back towards everyone else. If someone is in the office, he'll go glance in the door every few minutes. If someone is in the kitchen cooking, he's likely there. Ready and able to eat anything that might fall on the floor.

Mojo's extended family. Grandparents, great-parents, an uncle, aunt and cousin. Shot from the second floor overlook that Mojo likes so much.

And when it's time to go, Mojo gets that sad puppy look on his face. He slouches, almost cowers in the sad position he takes. Sometimes he backs away or tries to go up the stairs. He won't let us put his leash on him. He doesn't want to go. It's like he's saying: "Seriously guys, I'm just going to stay here."

This goes on for several minutes. He really likes it there. But he can't stay. If he stayed, we couldn't come home to him at lunch and he wouldn't have his cat. (How many dogs have their own cats?) Eventually we have to take him back to our townhouse, without a yard and without a fancy second-floor overlook. Poor Mojo.