Today is Hazel’s 4th birthday, so it seems like a perfect time to dedicate a post to my favourite fur baby. Here are 10 things Hazel would like you to know about her:

We brought Hazel home in July of 2012. Her Dad’s name was Parker, which is my last name. She has one brother, and I also have one brother. We felt like she was meant to come home with us.

I don’t know why I didn’t realize this, but I didn’t know that dogs have to be trained to walk on a leash. I expected to just clip on the leash and go on a walk, but Hazel was not having that at all. The minute I clipped on her leash, she would glare at me and flop down, refusing to move. Eventually I got a long wooden spoon, covered it in peanut butter and carried it with me on walks. Suddenly the leash was much more appealing and after a week, I could leave the spoon behind. 

She was a super energetic puppy! We called her Hurricane Hazel, which is a famously destructive storm in Canada from the 1950’s. She got into everything, wanted endless games of fetch and chewed through all my clothing.

She is sweet and affectionate with people and dogs. After some ambivalence, she has decided that she loves her brother and must guard the house at all costs. She has many friends in the neighbourhood, including two sweet girls we call Hazel’s fan club.

I took Hazel into the water for the first time at 10 weeks old, and she hasn’t stopped swimming since. She can’t resist jumping in streams, lakes, puddles and stagnant swamps. She will swim at any time of year. Once she jumped into a lake with ice pieces floating by and swam happily for 10 minutes.

Hazel is a big ham who loves the camera.

Lives for food and can sniff food out anywhere. Once we were walking by someone’s house and a man stopped to pet her. She sniffed his pocket, and sat down. I asked if he had dog treats, as we have taught her to sit for treats. He answered that he did have dog treats in his pocket, but not today…yesterday. In another life, she could be a food sniffing dog at the airport.

She HATES the scale at the vet. Until last week I had to pick her up, carry her onto the scale, put her down and then go back on the scale alone so they could subtract her weight from our combined weight. It would be cuter if she wasn’t 60 pounds. Also, I have been weighed more at the vet than anywhere else. True story.

Hazel is very loyal to her dog friends. She stops at their houses and looks at the door, just in case they want to visit. She brings sticks to leave on their lawn and she once scared away a large dog that kept trying to hump her best friend Callie. Good girl Hazel.

Finally, she is a huge couch stealer! She will hop onto the couch any time there is a opening. No opening? That’s okay, she will just pretend to have to go outside and steal your spot when you get up to help her. Haha, sucker.

Happy birthday Hazel!