I was watching the girls last night and it was an episode about dogs. Dorothy said that she hated dogs and Rose found that hard to believe. Come to find out Dorothy had a dog once and after losing him couldn’t bear to get another. This episode got me to thinking about the dogs I have had throughout my life.

Growing up I had a dog, his name was Precious. His mom was Spot. I don’t remember Spot too much, Precious was born when I was about two or three. There were other dogs in the litter, one was blind and one was deaf. A lady that handled handicapped dogs took the blind one. We kept the deaf one and named him Bandit. He did very well in spite of his handicap. I am not sure what ever happened to him, but we had precious for many years.

Precious was an outside dog. My mom said that she didn’t want a dog in the house, but often he was allowed in the basement if it was too hot or too cold outside. I know that my mom loved this dog, I remember coming home from school and seeing Precious peering out the front window. I think he secretly spent more time in the house with her than we will ever know.

I came home after having moved out and Precious was gone. He was old and slow. I am not sure what happened to him. My mom seemed sad, but I don’t remember discussing it.

When my children were small we had a few dogs, a black lab named Whitney and a chocolate lab named Cocoa. Whitney was killed by a car and we had to give Cocoa away because we just weren’t good dog people. It was at this point that, like Dorothy, I declared that I didn’t like dogs.

I remember rolling my eyes at work when there would be a card passed around if someone lost a pet or not joining in if someone brought their dog to the office. Yes, I’d sign the card and yes I’d sometimes go pet the dog because deep down I really do love dogs.

I finally broke down and got another dog, a beagle named Henry. He was cute and I spoiled him. I didn’t know how to train a pet and it was a disaster. He was not well behaved, ate everything in sight and eventually he got very mean. Henry, sadly, had to be put down.

That was it for me… No more dogs…

Fast forward a few years and my son asked if we could have another dog. I initially said no, I just didn’t think that we had time for a pet and I didn’t want a repeat of Henry. This did not stop my son from his search. He sent me pictures from the local pound nearly every day. I had an excuse for each one, until I saw our Cooper. Oh, was he cute! He looked pretty rough and very sad. We both instantly fell in love with him.

My son went to the pound to adopt him and promised that he would be the main caretaker. I was working two jobs at the time so that had to be the deal. He held up his end of the deal very well until about 7 months later.

My son took a job in another city and insisted that he couldn’t take Cooper. My life was also changing. I had met the man of my dreams and we were to be married. Marrying him meant that I also had to move, not only move, but live on the road in and out of hotels. What to do with Cooper? I really didn’t want to have to travel with a pet, but I had grown very attached to him.

The first stop on our new life was dropping all of my belongings at my new husbands home. We got everything moved in and were off to Texas. Before we ever left town, Cooper escaped from my car twice. I was thinking that we may have to just leave him behind. We eventually found him and our long drive began.

Now it’s seven years later, Cooper survived all of the long car rides and living in different places. He was such a good traveling companion. I no longer travel with my husband and Cooper gets to spend his days at home lounging on one of his many blankets or playing outside in the yard that we had fenced especially for him.

I guess that I really do have “dog love in my eyes”, I just had to get the right dog for me. I so enjoy the unconditional love that Cooper gives. After being at work all day, or just running to the grocery, he always comes running as if I had been gone for days. I especially enjoy his reaction when my husband arrives after being gone for several weeks. I am sure that all dogs are the same and we all think that ours is special and they are. I’m not sure if I’ll ever have another pet after Cooper leaves this world, but right now I am enjoying every minute of the joy that he brings to our lives.

Until Next Time

Thank You for Being a Friend!

MG