Yep. That's our dog. Bursting with personality, Foster is clearly everyone else's favorite member of our family. At least, he thinks so. When you come to visit us, he assumes you've come to see him, that your only purpose for coming is to throw his "red orb of happiness."

I should mention that the only reason that we call it his "red orb of happiness" is because he's learned to recognize the word, "ball." If I happen to accidentally say something like, "Hey honey, have you seen Foster's ball?" It's all over. I'm stuck throwing that damn thing for the next half an hour.

When new people meet Foster, the conversation usually moves quickly to, "He looks really bizarre. What kind of dog is he?" Foster is a Miniature Australian Shepherd with bright blue eyes and a blue merle coat. Because Aussies are working dogs, they're tailless. As the picture below clearly shows, Foster is lacking in the tail department.

Foster is a hardcore napping dog, usually found sleeping in the unlikeliest of spots. Below he is found relaxing on top of his crate, Snoopy-style:

And here, in the style of his natural enemy, Foster sleeps on top of the couch.

In the spirit of the holidays, many of you purchase adorable plush toys to give to Foster for Christmas. Like an extremely short predator, he pounces on these toys at home with the ferocity of a starving coyote. Here Foster lies exhausted, surrounded by the poly-fil guts of a recent kill—left for us to clean up. Thank you all so much.

Some of you might be surprised to learn that Foster has a girlfriend. Pictured below is Foster with his best gal Lucy. Lucy is orange. Lucy is also another word we've learned not to say around the house. Saying the word <whisper>Lucy</whisper> will send him into fits. In fact, if I really want to mess with him, I'll say, "Lucy Ball Walk Outside," in quick succession, over-and-over. He hates that.

Foster also has a thing for licking. He licks a lot. Waaayyy too much. We're really sorry about that. Early in his puppy-life I taught him a special command: "Kill Mommy." Below is the consequence of giving that command. He's really been into licking ever since. That's totally my bad. Sorry.

Perhaps Foster's most endearing quality is his lovely singing voice. Some of your answering machines have been graced with his rendition of "Happy Birthday to You." However, this singing shtick has gotten way out of hand. I can't even mention the words "Happy BIrthday" without him bursting into song. It's like a 24-hour musical around here. Heavy sigh.

In addition to the quirks I've mentioned so far, Foster is an extraordinarily jealous dog. Awhile back, I was taking a short nap with Bethany, and Foster just couldn't stand to be left out. Cuddles ensued.

I hope you've enjoyed this brief tour through the many facets of Foster. He's like an onion. He has layers. Lots of stinky, stinky onion layers.

He's also really, really cute.