Are you a dog person?
Being a dog person is one of those hard-to-explain things like being a Harley person...if I have to explain, you won't understand (the saying found on some Harley shirts). You either are one or you are not one...A or B...black or white...an objective choice...no gray area.
My daugher Jenifer and I reside (separately) with dogs that are spoiled to say the least. It's not that the pets always get their way, certainly not in my household. But they do live pristine, laid back, easy, mostly indoor lives.
Jenifer's one canine indulgence (so far) is a Beagle named Sierra. This fortunate pooch, being an only "child", is a sweet dog who has lived a life of loving patronization and tolerance. Sierra is very protective of her digs and lets everyone know about it (a barker), despite long-time usage of anti-barking collar electronics. She is also a "sleep in the owner's bed" dog...and, at times, rendering her keepers perplexed as to where the terd in the sheets came from! Jenifer does realize that the errant poops are from Sierra, although she believes that these little morning surprizes are inadvertent, ie, fell out of the dog's ass by mistake while asleep. All this after a few years of peeing and barfing on the bed as a puppy, an occasional nocturnal fecal indiscretion as an adult dog is acceptable. Afterall, Beagles are soooo cute! And Sierra is no exception...under-the-sheet terds and all.
Our dogs? Sparky the Dauschund, Lucy the Boxer, and Sammy the Greyhound. They all have their own issues as well. The list is long, but here are some highlights. Sparky is 10 years old. As a puppy, he lived a solitary life during the day while we were at work (much like Jen's Sierra does now), as we hadn't adopted the other two yet. During that time, our not-so-miniature Dauschund ate the door frame in one of our bathrooms and tore up the linoleum in another.
Lucy is 7 years old. Early on, she escaped the house a few times and was a cloud of dust down the street and around the neighborhood...the only capture method: drive the car after her and open the door, she jumps right in. Sammy is 5 years old. He has managed to tear and few chunks out of his thin skin, one incident involving his toe required minor surgery.
Sparky still manages to sneek in an indoor pee pee once in a while (usually found later as a yellow stain in the carpet next to some other vertical structure). Lucy tried to eat a wasp causing her rather large boxer jowls to swell up and out resembling huge wing-like structures (a brief treatment of benedryl remedied that). And Sammy's long tail has destroyed a few coffee table nic nacs and removed plaster from the walls during moments of exhuberance.
So, being a dog person does entail a lot more than just a love of the furry domestic creatures. It takes a lot of work, a lot of tolerance, and lot of having the ability to accept the love they have to offer. That last characteristic is the most important. One must appreciate all that dogs have to offer: unqualified devotion, love, and companionship. They solicit attention from us at all times. Why? Because that is the way we have raised them. Despite my barking back at them when they bug us, I am still amazed at how this most popular domesticated animal requires so little. They only require your love in return...not being tied to a stake in the backyard and sleeping in an indentation in the dirt. Do our dogs realize how lucky they are? I haven't quite decided whether or not dogs actually know the difference. Probably.
Now, if I could just get one of them to open the fridge and bring me a beer...it would truly be a perfect symbiotic relationship!
My daugher Jenifer and I reside (separately) with dogs that are spoiled to say the least. It's not that the pets always get their way, certainly not in my household. But they do live pristine, laid back, easy, mostly indoor lives.
Jenifer's one canine indulgence (so far) is a Beagle named Sierra. This fortunate pooch, being an only "child", is a sweet dog who has lived a life of loving patronization and tolerance. Sierra is very protective of her digs and lets everyone know about it (a barker), despite long-time usage of anti-barking collar electronics. She is also a "sleep in the owner's bed" dog...and, at times, rendering her keepers perplexed as to where the terd in the sheets came from! Jenifer does realize that the errant poops are from Sierra, although she believes that these little morning surprizes are inadvertent, ie, fell out of the dog's ass by mistake while asleep. All this after a few years of peeing and barfing on the bed as a puppy, an occasional nocturnal fecal indiscretion as an adult dog is acceptable. Afterall, Beagles are soooo cute! And Sierra is no exception...under-the-sheet terds and all.
Our dogs? Sparky the Dauschund, Lucy the Boxer, and Sammy the Greyhound. They all have their own issues as well. The list is long, but here are some highlights. Sparky is 10 years old. As a puppy, he lived a solitary life during the day while we were at work (much like Jen's Sierra does now), as we hadn't adopted the other two yet. During that time, our not-so-miniature Dauschund ate the door frame in one of our bathrooms and tore up the linoleum in another.
Lucy is 7 years old. Early on, she escaped the house a few times and was a cloud of dust down the street and around the neighborhood...the only capture method: drive the car after her and open the door, she jumps right in. Sammy is 5 years old. He has managed to tear and few chunks out of his thin skin, one incident involving his toe required minor surgery.
Sparky still manages to sneek in an indoor pee pee once in a while (usually found later as a yellow stain in the carpet next to some other vertical structure). Lucy tried to eat a wasp causing her rather large boxer jowls to swell up and out resembling huge wing-like structures (a brief treatment of benedryl remedied that). And Sammy's long tail has destroyed a few coffee table nic nacs and removed plaster from the walls during moments of exhuberance.
So, being a dog person does entail a lot more than just a love of the furry domestic creatures. It takes a lot of work, a lot of tolerance, and lot of having the ability to accept the love they have to offer. That last characteristic is the most important. One must appreciate all that dogs have to offer: unqualified devotion, love, and companionship. They solicit attention from us at all times. Why? Because that is the way we have raised them. Despite my barking back at them when they bug us, I am still amazed at how this most popular domesticated animal requires so little. They only require your love in return...not being tied to a stake in the backyard and sleeping in an indentation in the dirt. Do our dogs realize how lucky they are? I haven't quite decided whether or not dogs actually know the difference. Probably.
Now, if I could just get one of them to open the fridge and bring me a beer...it would truly be a perfect symbiotic relationship!
posted by James | 8:00 AM
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