Our Peyton Boy

5 years ago this fall, we brought home our first baby boy-Peyton-so I thought it fitting that I write an "Ode to Peyton"!

The Big & Small of it:
Since Mike is a football freak :) we named our puppy after quarterback Peyton Manning. We had checked out numerous breeders and met the Mom & Dad dogs before settling on one particular farm in Maple Valley, WA. It had been a long day at work for both Mike & I (me teaching in Wapato and Mike in Ellensburg), but we got the call that our puppy was ready to come home, so we made the 3 hour trek over the mountains to get our baby! When we arrived, there were 2 puppies still available from the litter. Both Yellow Labrador puppies were boys. Peyton was the short, chubby one- just hanging out on the floor, and the other one was thinner, rambuncious and climbing in and out of a large bucket of straw. The breeder handed the fat one to Mike and the other one to me-Mike told me to pick which one...it was love at first site! I have a soft spot for chubby babies & puppies, so that's when Peyton became a Martone! We gave him his first set of shots and headed home. Famished from the long day, we pulled into a McDonalds for a quick bite, and I can't remember how many people oodled over him. He just slept and snuggled-no matter how loud it was or how many people were touching him. I was too excited to eat, I just held my new baby the whole 3 hours home. We were completely mesmerized by our newest addition to our family. We did all the ritualistic things like, give him a tour around the house, bathe him, show him his new food bowl and water dish (of which were 10 times his size-poor baby) and lastly-we showed him his kennel. He was such a good boy-he slept in in from the beginning without problems (we put a hot water bottle under his blankets and a tick tock clock to help him sleep) He has always LOVED his kennel! Since I worked an hour away from home, Mike was the main care-taker. He would come home on his lunch breaks & planning periods to let Peyton out of his designated area (the kitchen/bathroom hall) so he could do his business out in the yard. Pey pey caught on really quickly and we had very few accidents. When he was 10 weeks old-I took him to school with me for 5 days because my 2nd graders were studying mammals. He was man-handled and loved to pieces by 30 strange kiddos, but he never minded one bit. That's our Peyton-such a trooper. Yes, he's made the occasional mess and can get himself into the kind of mischief where you want to rip your hair out and scream various obcenitites at him (much like Marley from Marley & Me-when Dad yells his full name PEYON LEE!!!) but more than that-he's a great companion, friend, snuggler and big brother. He has been a wonderful part of our family and I can't imagine life without him.
When I was pregnant with EmmaLee-Peyton never left my side, he slept with his head on my belly EVERY SINGLE night for 9 months-it's like he sensed there was something miraculous going on and he needed to protect me in any way he could. At the slightest noise, he would stand over me and growl (which is SOOOOO unlike him). He knows he belongs in our family and does what he can to watch over us.  We never did the whole dog-baby integrating thing before EmmaLee came home (like letting him smell a blanket that Emma had used, so he would know the smell, etc.) We knew he would love her from the start....and he did! He was quite curious about EmmaLee especially when she would make a poopie....he'd carefully (which is another word NOT in his vocabulary on a normal basis) stand himself up and hold on to her changing table and watch us as we changed her diaper and then follow us everywhere we took her. He never tried to smother her or hurt her. He would watch her sleep on our bed and fall asleep there himself.
We've made our share of emergency vet visits with him-from eating my underwear and not being able to pass it on his own, to allergy shots! Peyton is the only hunting dog I know that is ALLERGIC to-you guessed it....nature! He has always had terrible allergies that bother him to no end! We took him to a doggie dermatologist (yes people-I said dermatologist for dogs) and they explained that our baby was VERY allergic to: feathers, cedar & grass......hmmmmm????? So needless to say, he enjoys life with lots of Benadryl and the occasional Hyrdrocortizone shot.

There aren't words to describe the way I feel about my Peyton boy-he's my baby and always will be-hopefully for many more years to come. We just love our 100 lb. self proclaimed, lap-dog, puppy at heart!