Musings of a Dog Lover
It is (finally) a relatively cool, cloudy day in Chicagoland. I’m spending some quality time with my coffee, a book, and Penny on the couch this morning and it has me a bit pensive. I’m thinking about dogs today, and all they ways they wriggle their ways into our lives and change them forever.
Penny generally wakes me up in the mornings. Tim will open the door and I’ll hear her bounding up the stairs on her mad dash into the bedroom. I’ll say, “Peeeenny!” and she’ll jump up on top of me, in the bed, without fail. I never thought I’d love an animal so much that I actually look forward to her waking me up. But I do.
We call Penny a street dog because she was a stray before she was rescued from a kill shelter and brought to Illinois, but you wouldn’t know it if you ever met her. She cuddles and doesn’t bark very much and she loves to play. Playing is probably her favorite thing next to eating. Her eating habits are the only thing she has left from her stray dog days. She eats voraciously, and is always begging for a treat. You know that commercial where the kid asks his mom for a treat and then begs, “Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaase?!” throughout the grocery store? Yea, that’s our dog.
Whenever we open a crinkly bag, no matter what’s in it and no matter how far away she is, she’ll come running and stand at our feet, ears perked up and eyes wide. She has begging down. It’s an art form for her. Somehow, she makes herself look cuter as she begs, and it works. I’m a sucker for it every time. I know we should try to stop her from begging, especially from guests, but it’s so cute. (You can see a picture of her begging on this post. It’s really cute, right?) Not only that, it’s her instinct.
They say that getting a dog is a good test for having kids. I used to think this meant that it’s a good way to see how you and your partner will parent together. That may be true, but I think the real thing dogs teach you is that it is actually possible to love something or someone so much you feel like you’ll burst. All those things you thought would be so annoying – being woken up at all hours of the morning, cleaning up accidents, making late night trips to the doctor, being begged for food – none of them can compare to the love and companionship you get from inviting a dog into your home.
All of this thinking has come about not only because Penny and I are logging some good cuddle time, but because I read this post this morning about a man who loves his aging dog so much, he’ll take him into the lake to ease his arthritis and help him fall asleep. Every day. I get teary-eyed just thinking about it.
Do you have a dog in your life? I’d love to get some great dog stories in the comments!