Tug and I have been watching ESPN and the NFL Network most of the day staying abreast of the news coming from Tampa. We’re gearing up for the big day, though Tug may be disappointed when he discovers the Super Bowl is not his food dish filled with Merrick Elements Cowboy Cookout or Turducken and is instead a football game. I reckon I’ll cross that bridge on Sunday.

Don’t get me wrong. Tug is indeed a football fan. His mouth is too large for a tennis ball–he has been know to hide one in each jowl and a third somewhere in between–so we play fetch with a football.  It’s actually more like Tug plays “Bo Jackson” to my “Brian Bosworth” when he has the ball. When I have it, it’s more or less the same result, except Tug resembles Troy Polamalu of the Steelers. For a big dog he is quick and nimble, though to see him in action is a lot like waiting for an eclipse.

Come Super Bowl Sunday, we’ll fire up the grill, watch the pre-game shows (which if you’ve been watching ESPN, they’ve already started), and settle in to watch the Cardinals take on the Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII. No matter the outcome, history will be made Sunday. Pittsburgh will win an unprecedented sixth Lombardi Trophy or Arizona will end the second largest championship drought in professional sports. Sorry Cubs. Neither Tug nor I have a dog in the fight since we both root for teams in the NFC East. Like everyone else though, we hope to enjoy a great game and awesome commercials.  Our pick is Arizona to win the game, 31-17.

football Cardinals, Merrick Elements, Merrick Pet Care, Steelers, Super Bowl, turducken

It’s been a week since we opened the bag of Grammy’s Pot Pie. Tug is still a fan, but we tried a different twist during the weekend. Tug has a tendency to grow tired of the same food day in and day. I guess we all do. On Saturday, when I put the bowl of food down for him, he attacked the bowl with the same excitement he had all week, but for the first time, instead of burying his head in the bowl, he sniffed the food and then looked up at me with an expression of, “Pot pie again?” I think he has been checking out the bag of Merrick Elements Turducken. In an effort to stay a couple steps of Tug, I mixed some warm water with the Grammy’s to form a gravy. Tug is in love and even licked the bowl for a good five minutes after emptying it. The gravy seems to enhance the flavor, and my dog is even more excited to see what’s in his bowl.

Also, Tug seems to be more playful. Usually he sleeps the day away either in the bath tub or next to my desk while I work.  During the course of the last week, though, he has an extra pep in his step and is engaging the other dogs in the house to games of tug-o-war.  The puppy-like behavior is fun to see. I haven’t noticed an improvement in his breath yet.  I test that every morning when he politely rests his head on my bed next to mine and pants politely until I get up to let him out. Ever wake up to St. Bernard breath?

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Mike and Tug, age 8 weeks

A man, a dog and a friendship

For as long as I could remember I wanted a St. Bernard. There was something fascinating to me about having a dog my size with which I could get down on the floor and wrestle without worrying about stepping on or crushing underneath my 230-pound frame. Whenever I would mention to someone that I wanted a Saint, the faces and comments were always the same, “Why would you want a dog that drools so much?” or “A dog that size will take over your house.”  To the first question, I would always say, “So what. Isn’t that we have towels? Nothing that can’t be cleaned up.” And to the notion that they take over the house, I didn’t have an answer before owning a Saint, but I didn’t let that deter me.  Not even movies like Beethoven or Turner and Hooch could deter me. In fact, those movies only nurtured my desire to one day own a St. Bernard.

After college and a stint in the Navy, I came across an ad for St. Bernard puppies in November 2004. At the time of the ad, the puppies were three weeks. The mom had a litter of 13 puppies, and the owners were hoping to find them new homes as the holidays approached. When I saw them, it was love at first sight. I was the first to respond to the ad and had pick of the litter. The largest of the litter was a male puppy that bore a near-perfect resemblance to Beethoven, from the movie with Charles Groden.  I was hooked.  I staked my claim and went home excited and disappointed all at once. Excited that I was about to be the proud owner of a St. Bernard but disappointed it would be five weeks until he was ready to leave the litter.

The five weeks went by faster than I thought, but it was time well spent getting the puppy’s new home ready and trying to figure out what I would name him.  There were so many possibilities. For years, I always thought I would call him Bevo, after the University of Texas mascot. It didn’t seem to fit, though. I kicked around several ideas, including Tank, Sarge, Tex, Bull and a few others. They all seemed like “big guy” names to me, but they also seemed like “tough guy” names. And this puppy was too lovable to have a tough guy name. In the vein of lovable, oaf-like names, Tug came to mind while driving down the road one day. I’d like to say it was a moment of epiphany and that there was some sort of sign from the heavens, like the clouds formed the word “Tug” in the sky, but it was really the result of a week-long brainstorm session and the Tug McGraw autobiography that had been laying on my coffee table. Tug it was, and the start of a friendship that has been filled with color during our four years together.

I will share stories about Tug, past and present, as we put Merrick Elements to the test. We hope you enjoy.

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