That's Me

That's Me

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Dogs, Dogs, Dogs

I'm not a dog lover. The only reason we have a dog is because my daughter wanted "someone to love  that is all mine" when she was 5 & was dealing with her parents' divorce. What does a Mama do? She gets the child the poodle she's asking for. And she loves that dog to pieces. And he loves her to pieces. Even when she puts bows in his hair & tells him he's a girl. 

It's not that I hate dogs. And I haven't always been indifferent to them. 

I loved the dogs my family had while I was growing up. Maggie (Springer Spaniel who literally sprang instead of ran), Fritz (German Shepherd), Chelsea (Cocker Spaniel).  When Fritz passed away after I'd moved out on my own, it broke my heart & was really hard for me to get over. 

There were a few dogs in my adult life that were special dogs to me. There was Jak the German Shepherd who was an amazingly HUGE boy who was very protective of the kids & me. People were scared of him because of his size & his bark. Oh, I loved that dog. And there's Harley the Black Lab who is incredibly smart & I swear she is part human. 

Unfortunately, Harley did not like living in town when we moved here from our farm. She was always a country dog & all the people moving around drove her nuts. "Why are they not playing with me?" was her constant cry. She would sit at the windows or door & let out this little whimper while her entire body shivered from head to toe, looking at me like, "Mama, it's friends for me! Let me play with them!" 

To make it worse, we live next door to a church with a school in it. Every Saturday night & Sunday morning, she would do her little shiver & whimper. Every Monday through Friday at recess, she would do her little shiver & whimper. I felt bad that there was no way for Harley to understand why she couldn't run around with all the potential new friends.

Harley never ran away from home to play with people, because she was a very obedient dog & always waited for me to tell her she could do anything. She would even sit at her food bowl just looking at me until I said, "You can eat." If I ever said, "Stop" while she was doing anything, including eating, she stopped. 

I felt bad for Harley & let her move back to the country without me. There are days I really miss that dog, but I know she's happy where she is because she has acres to run around in with her dog friends & isn't confused by neighbors who aren't petting her. 

In my attempt to  watch  research  YouTube videos  medical journals to  avoid as much homework as humanly possible  finish my paper, I happened upon Great Dane Rescues in WI. If you're interested, click here to see some pretty awesome dogs. 

I'm not sure how I of all people happened at a dog rescue, except that the hubs wants one of these:

That is a real-sized person next to that dog. Not a little person, not a small child, but a real life tall adult. Next to a dog. A dog. That is bigger than the adult human next to him (yes, it's definitely a him). Yikes

That, my friends, is a Great Dane. 

This: 
Source
is my house. Look at that closely to get the feel for the size of my house. Those are not Giant Bob's houses on either side of my house. They're not even mansions. Those are real-sized house for real-sized people. Next to my house.

Okay, it's not really my house, but with 27 children (& their friends who might as well move in), a dog, 3 cats, 2 fish, 2 hamsters, & 2 parents, that's what my home feels like on an almost-daily basis. 

Why am I looking at dogs who could use my bath tub for a water dish & my bed as a pillow?

If there was ever question of my sanity before, it's clear now that I am officially insane. Or willing to drive 100 miles to adopt a giant just to avoid my research paper. 

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