All About That Darla

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Jenny has made countless appearances on this little blog, but I realize I haven't had too many posts dedicated to the other fluffball in our life, Darla. If you've read this blog long, you know Darla showed up on our doorstep one rainy night in Pensacola, Fl. Our friend then adopted her, but that friend had to go on deployment last year. So, Darla came to live with us for a little while. We are nearing the end of our time with her, a fact we are in total denial about. This pup has us wrapped around her little paw, and Jenny is going to miss her sister so much!
Fun fact: Parker and I actually got to name her. We were calling her Darla before our friend adopted her, and she liked the name so much that she kept it.
We do have a little more time with our Darla girl, so I thought I would share a few facts about her. 
First and foremost, Darla loves food. I know all dogs love food, but this dog lives for food. We don't feed our dogs from the table and the only human food they get is peanut butter, but that doesn't stop her from sitting by our feet at every meal, praying her pupper prayers that we drop something. Mealtime is this dog's favorite part of every day. The cool thing is Darla was really easy to train because she's so food motivated. 

Since she is about to go home to her mama, I wanted to make a little gift that could go with her. Since the first thing I think of when I think of Darla is her love for all things edible, I decided to get a little crafty and make a personalized food storage container for her. Darla sits in some really funny positions (let's be honest, she sits like a person), so she has a really distinct silhouette in pictures. I decided to print out one of my favorite pictures of her, trace it on the container, and color it in. 
Step 1... I picked up an airtight container with a good latch to keep out bugs. 

Step 2... I printed out a picture of her, cut out her silhouette, and taped it onto the front of the container. I wanted to do a black silhouette to make it more distinct. This was an obvious choice since Darla is all black with the exception of a small white patch on her chest. I traced her picture with a black sharpie. I then painted inside the lines with black paint. If you want to make your silhouette a different color, just make sure your paint is dark enough to cover up the sharpie you use.

Step 3... Add food! Big sister Jenny was checking it all out.

For any dog parents out there, we feed Darla Purina ProPlan. The biggest thing I look for when choosing a food for our dogs in the ingredients. It's amazing how many foods have "corn" as the first ingredient. Meat has to be the first ingredient in my book, and this food fits the bill. Darla is a very active little girl and loves to run and play. She needs good nourishment so she can keep up with her busy day of chasing squirrels and annoying Jenny ;)
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Darla loved her new food storage container so much that she just had to jump into it! Kidding, I put her in there and she gave me this look. Jenny has officially taught her the art of being unimpressed. Sorry I'm not sorry. It was cuteness overload and totally worth it.

I got a shot of Parker carrying the dog food out of Petsmart because he just looked like quite the dutiful dog parent. This was on a Friday night by the way. I don't know when running errands together started counting as a date night but I like it. It's the little things.

Though eating is a solid first place hobby, Darla does have other interests. She LOVES to snuggle and be around people. She is a lap dog and wants to be as close to you as possible. Parker calls her my shadow because she follows me around everywhere. It's really true. If I get up and walk into the other room, there is a little furry being a few steps behind me. Jenny, on the other hand, mans the couch. 
She also has a habit of putting a toy in her mouth when she gets excited. When Parker gets home from work and she hears the car door shut, she immediately runs into the bedroom where she has stashed a couple of toys, grabs one, and brings it to the door to wait for him. If I've cleaned up her toys and she can't find one, she starts to panic a little and run around in circles. Sometimes I hide her toy just to watch her reaction. Mean mom award. 

"Mom, wake up brown dog and make her play."

My little lap dog

So there is a little bit about the girl who stole our hearts during the months she has been a part of our family. She has been such an unexpected blessing, and I am so glad she chose our doorstop over 2 years ago.