The Joys of the Family Dog

I am finally feeling ready to post about my beloved Guinness.  Guinness was our first baby...well, okay he was really a dog.  But he was the sweetest dog you will ever meet.  That being said, after we had Munchkin Girl, I was about to kill him.

Let me back up a bit.  Our story goes something like this.  Boy meets girl.  Boy and girl move into small apartment that doesn't allow dogs.  Boy and Girl get dog anyway and he becomes the most treasured creature ever to walk the earth.  Boy and Girl decide they love animals so much they move into a house and then get Cat #1, Cat #2, and Dog #2.  Fast forward a few years to Baby #1.  All this adds up to...one VERY full house.

After Baby #1 was born, everything went downhill.  My beloved dogs became my arch enemy.  Here is why:

1.  They barked and constantly woke up Munchkin Girl after it took me an hour to put her to sleep
2.  They constantly knocked her down (on accident when she was learning to crawl and walk)
3.  They were always getting up on the counter to eat food
4.  They snored.  This wasn't a problem until night time, at which point they would keep me awake and I resorted to throwing shoes at them.
5.  Just as I was sitting down to have 10 minutes of time when no one was touching me or needing me, the dogs would come and pester me to pet them, feed them, take them for a walk, etc.  I found that I suddenly only had so much love to give.

There was a period of time that I swear I would have paid a nice stranger to "kidnap" them.  But then...fast forward a few years and suddenly Munchkin Girl is three and Little Buddy is 18 months...and...things are fun again.  The kids and dogs play together peacefully.  Everyone is sleeping well so they don't wake anyone up.

Then, one day Guinness couldn't walk anymore.  He started falling down constantly....we tried lots of different things, but he was just old and had bad legs to begin with...I won't get into details...we had to put him down.  I never thought I could cry so much.  I was suddenly heartbroken to lose my first baby.  Even as I'm typing this, I am finding tears in my eyes.  He was the sweetest boy I ever knew and I will miss him forever.

This brings me to my point...as I said, there was a time that I couldn't believe that I had to live with dogs for years.  Life would be so much easier without dogs.  But now that time has passed and life is normal again, I realize how much dogs bring to our lives.  Now we just have one dog left, and I vow to treasure her.  Well, maybe not treasure every moment of every day, but at least I vow not to plan a kidnapping of any sort.  And I can now truly appreciate her.  Dogs really can keep kids busy and I have read that they can even improve self-esteem.  I'm not sure about that, but I'm sure that they do love her.  She lets the kids MANHANDLE her.  Here is how a dog helps a family:




Dogs give someone for the kids to pester and "Mother".  Here is Lola. obediently staying in her "bed".  She was told it was time to sleep and was strictly told not to get out of her room.  The covers were then tucked under her chin and she was even given a Teddy Bear to keep her company.  This Teddy Bear's name is now "Lola's Bear".







Dogs give kids someone to talk to.  When Munchkin Girl has friends over and Little Buddy gets lonely, he always has Lola.  Plus, she encourages reading skills!  See how she patiently listens as he "reads" his favorite book.










Dogs provide hours of entertainment.  Lola has worn sunglasses, hats, scarves, dresses, you name, she's worn it!  They both spend hours getting her decked out and then giggle at the final result.











That's the Tinkerbell skirt from Halloween...now on Lola's head











That's a beret...along with Tinkerbell wings being precariously perched on her back.












And those are snow boots...







Lastly, can you imagine the skill it took to get this book to balance on her head!  It took at least 15 minutes of concentration and teamwork to make this happen!






PS...Lola also does a great job of picking up any food that drops to the floor.  I adore not having to get out the broom every time we have a Goldfish explosion!


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