Caring for a FS Dog

Jake, the big white dog, is staying at our house for a while. It has been a long time since I lived with a dog. I think maybe 22 years. Damn that mid-life crisis thing just popped up again. Can it really be 22 years? I sit in the evening and work to the comforting sound of dog snores. Yup, I said it, "comforting sound of dog snores." The sound of a big dog huffing in his sleep evokes the same feelings as the smell of meat on a smoky bbq, indescribable, but deeply comforting.

I love my cats, but I don’t take them outside to play. Jake doesn’t really go outside to play. He is my silent companion. He doesn’t wine and beg for attention, okay a little bit of begging with those big brown eyes and periodic gulp of extra saliva, but he doesn’t force himself upon me. He doesn’t wind around my legs and yowl, shouting that I am a neglectful mom and that I must pet him. He just enjoys my presence.

The kids love having a big hairy monster in the house. Josie says “Jake” more often than “Cookie”, which really means something. I have caught the girl sitting on the floor next to The Jake, with her arm around his neck. The two stare at some far distant dream without hearing the world around them.  Teddy likes to rough house and play hard, is there really anything like a boy and his (borrowed) dog? I will have to watch their play more carefully, since I caught Jake humping Ted not once, not twice, but three times this evening. Poor teddy is about half the weight and not quite as tall as Jake.

I am not worried about the kids wanting a dog after this. They will want one, but I am confident in my “No”. We are perfectly fine with just cats, and with this lifestyle, the cats are easier. The problem will be me. I will miss him. When Spencer took his oral exam I said that if he failed we would get a dog, he said I was nuts. He was totally right, but still dogs are comforting to have in the house.