Puppy Love

I love dogs. I mean LOVE. Before kids I spent a great deal of time talking about dogs, learning about dogs, working with dogs, playing with dogs, picking the equivilant of a dog off my clothes in hair and drool. We were the proud owners of two very fine beasts.

Banzai

and Shenanigans

These two lovely creatures have gone to Rainbow Bridge, and even now, I still tear up looking at these pictures. A good kick off to a Monday morning at 6:43 am, after being up for 2 hours and having a baby spit up massive quantities of their breakfast on you. Like I used to say to Shenanigans, "good thing you're so cute!"

Anyhow, I've been insanely missing having a dog in these past few weeks. Although the dynamic has changed a little. Shenanigans went to live with my mom in 2006, not too long after Banzai died. He loved kids, but he also loved being the baby and while he would have sooner poked out his eye than ever do anything than smile, he was an anxious beast and needed to be the centre of attention. Something his grandma provided in spades. So we've been without a dog for a looong time.

The good part of it is that it does provide a lot of freedom. We never have to be home in a certain time to walk the dog...that is assuming we're allowed out without the kids. We don't have to make pet sitting arrangements. We are blissfully free of dog hair and my Dyson though a powerhouse is very grateful for it. My car looks great! My two beasts were dirty creatures, especially Shenanigans who could go for a walk and track in half the ravine in his hindquarters. Not to mention the cost. Banzai was a big German Shepherd and Shenanigans was a Newfoundland, 'nuff said. Kibble would have killed us, so we trekked to Alliston every quarter to get 300lbs of raw meat and threw in bones and veggies. Veterinarians LOVED us, generally the bigger the dog, the more the bills go up, vets, groomers, food, toys, gas.

So why am I pining for a dog? They're messy, noisy, expensive, responsibilities....wait a tick, sounds just like my kids! Mind you, try as they might, they cannot hold a candle to tracking in an entire ravine quite like Shenanigans, but he would be smiling down on them for their effort.

I remember how I used to sleep when I had Banzai, which was SOUNDLY. Its easy to drift away knowing you have a 120lb GSD who can hear everything and determine in a split second whether it was something to be worried about. And unlike ADT, he'll eat anything that turns out something to be worried about. I miss the stroking. I was petting a Great Dane this weekend for a while and just being able to find a velvety part of a dog and pet it was a great stress relief. I used to play with Banzai's ears, I miss his ears. I think kids and dogs are great pals and want that experience for my kids, I want them to grow up being dog lovers. To me a great dog just helps to make a house a home, completes the family.

So why don't I have a dog? In a word, Dearest. Don't get him wrong, he loves dogs. He misses having one (he admitted this to me, I almost died of shock..I was too tired to die so put it off for another 80 or so years). He just doesn't want the responsibility and has been very Cold War-esque on this point. However, you can see a bit of his wall crumbling every time he sees a Golden Retriever or Labrador puppy, his weak spot. Anyone want to loan me a puppy for a few hours? And partly me. I know right now I'm not pining for the responsibility, but I'm starting to feel within a year or two I will be setting up a lobby group for a dog, or another baby, with that strategy, I might as well start choosing my breed right now. Heh heh heh.