Does he look like a drama king to you? Does he just exude pitifulness? (I realize pitifulness is not a real word, but it fits here.)

This is Joey. He's one of the two pups that we got for Christmas. I should have figured out something about this puppy when we first got him. We were there for at least 30 minutes before the owner could even find Joey! He was in hiding because he was afraid of the vacuum cleaner. We were about to leave with his half-sister, Roxy, when he finally decided to make an appearance. He just cuddled right into the Smart One and there was no way we could say no. Roxy was a maniac ball of fluff and Joey was the hold me, love, never ever leave me dog.

In the almost three months that we've had Joey, he's had one ailment after another! First, he started losing his hair. Not just a little, but a lot! He was the most pitiful thing I've ever seen after a while. He looked like a dog with a reverse something! Super short hair on his head and shoulders, and long hair on his back and butt! We took him to the vet to have him checked out while getting their shots.

As soon as we got home, we had to rush Joey back to the vet. Turns out he had an allergic reaction to the vaccine. The poor dog just went nuts! He got to spend a couple hours at the vet that day. Next time we took him back I had to give him benadryl and then they split the shots to make sure he didn't react again.

A week or so later, the vet calls. Turns out the tests came back positive for ringworm. Ok, so we had to sanitize the dogs, the kennels, get the carpet cleaned, etc.

Did I mention he's a wimp, too? He whines; a lot. Roxy will find anyway to escape from confinement. I always know when she's escaped because Joey starts howling. He's too afraid to try. That's probably because the one time he attempted it, he did it wrong and got his head stuck. It's a good think my wonderful hubby recognized his howling that time as a cry for help instead of a "that's not fair she got out" again cry.

A few weeks ago we took the dogs to the groomer. I just couldn't take it anymore! Joey needed something to be done about his hair issue. You could tell he was scared when we picked him up, but he looked a lot better.

A week later, Joey was whiny. He's a whiny dog, but this time his whine was different. So, we rushed him off to the vet. Bad ear infection. Great. That meant two weeks of ear wash and ear drops for him, plus pain pills because he was obviously in great pain. Poor baby. Good thing for him we were out of town for the first couple of days, so he had wonderful attention from a good friend. I'm sure he misses her now.

He did manage to surprise us though! He was the first one to climb the stairs. Roxy, the brave heart, is just now climbing those stairs. Joey didn't want to get left behind, so went up them one morning. He stopped halfway though when he realized just what he'd done. I could not get him to come down. B-Boo started coming down to get him, but he started backing up. I could see what was about to happen, so yelled at her to stop and ran over, but it was too late. He backed himself right off of the staircase and took a fall to the tile below. We were amazed that he wasn't injured!

The Smart One carries Joey around like a baby. Seriously, he holds him over his shoulder and walks around with Joey resting his head on his shoulder. It's the funniest thing I've ever seen! The other day I was sitting at the table reading with Joey in my lap. He just kept whining. I kept telling him to hush up. He was upset because Roxy was in the other room with the Drama Queen. The next thing I know, he manages to push his way up on my shoulder and lean his head on me. And he stopped whining. He is so stinking spoiled!

Today took the cake! B-Boo was bathing the dogs since I'm bedridden with a nasty bout of bronchitis. She washed Roxy first and then handed her off for me to cuddle. A bit later, she comes out with Joey. When Joey gets out of the bath he loves to run around and rub his head and body over everything. It's a dog thing. She tells me that Joey is hurt; he can not walk. She doesn't know what he did, he just started crying. I told her to put him down, and sure enough, his front right paw is just hanging there. He won't put it down, and he's in so much pain that he just falls down and won't get up. B-Boo brought him to me so I could check him out. He's whining and whimpering and carrying on. We're sitting on the bed trying to figure out what to do.

This is the part where I stop and tell you how wonderful my husband is. He never complains about this dog, he just goes with the flow. He hasn't had a weekend; he spent Friday night taking me to urgent care and today running errands for me with the kids. I'm really thinking at this point.

We try to get Joey up one more time and, I kid you not, the dog just looks at us like we're crazy for trying to make him stand up and slumps his body back down on the bed, looking at us with his pitiful little face. I'm thinking, great, now I have to break the news to the Smart One and tell hubby he has to take the dog to the vet. So I tell B-Boo to please have her father come upstairs. He comes in and we shut the door to discuss the dog. Sure enough, Joey won't stand up. It was pathetic. We have no idea what happened, but his paw was just hanging there, so we're concerned. Hubby took the Smart One with him and off to the vet they go.

Twenty minutes later, hubby calls me from the vet. Joey is fine now. He's walking around, jumping, playing and having a grand time. You have got to be kidding me!

Turns out there's not a thing wrong with his leg. It is a good thing we took him in though, apparently his ear still needs the drops. Of course!