Happy Birthday Carter!

Today is Carter’s birthday!

Carter turns three today, which in human years is 25 but we’re going to focus on his actual age.

Our little guy is a wheaten terrier which means he has this thing called the ‘wheaten greeting’. Wheatens love to meet and greet people including new acquaintances and those they’ve know for a while. There is usually a lot of tail wagging, panting and eventually he will jump at the person – standing on his back legs and wanting you to pet him. 

This greeting stays with wheatens their entire life apparently so it should not come as a surprise that we have this discussion on the street at least once per day.

Stranger: “Awwww, what a cute little puppy. How old is he?”

Us: “Ummm three.”

Carter becomes especially excited when he sees people or other dogs he knows. It almost gets to the point where he is out of control with the jumping and excitement. He does this with a number of neighbors and they must think we are crazy to own a dog that acts like this. Truth is he only acts the part when he meets people; even at home when someone visits he will run and jump for five minutes and then he is done.

He has the energy of a puppy and from all the wheaten owners we’ve talked to they remain like this even as they get older. He’s loyal, stubborn and has a great personality. Little kids like him, adults too and the homeless always go out of their way to say something to Carter (literally sometimes).

He’s just coming off an upset stomach from last week so there will be no cake or fancy treats but we might be able to slip him a few pieces of his version of crack: cheese.

Carter loves his cheese! A trait developed by H’s parents while they were watching him. Carter has this thing were he doesn’t eat for the first few days when we are away so they got worried and started giving him treats to encourage feeding … and that’s when Carter discovered cheese. 

Open the fridge and he may lift his head from the couch. Touch the cellophane of a cheese slice and he leaps off the couch and runs over to sit in front of you. When he was sick last week he quickly figured out he didn’t like taking his prescribed pills. I was proud of myself for getting the pills on the back of his tongue and making him swallow. Of course an hour later I found the half-dissolved pill in a corner of the house. However, if you wrap that same pill in a small piece of cheese then it’s over. He doesn’t chew cheese, just swallows it and looks up hoping for more.

So Happy Birthday Carter – we love you!

After visiting neighbors for the Super Bowl who have a playful dog themselves, each day Carter would stop and sit in front of their building hoping to see his friend.

Carter loves to watch television sometimes, especially other dogs. So it should come as no surprise that he was all fired up for the Terrier Group during the recent Westminster Dog Show. (volume up if you can)