I am dog crazy. Always have been, which was a little hard growing up with a Mom most definitely not dog crazy, but she's a good Mom and sacrificed her clean smelling, flea free house so my sisters and I could have dogs, one at at time, not like me with my three dogs.
I got Murphy from the pound when he was about 6 years old and I was about 13, which turned out to be the perfect age for both of us. I was old enough to take care of him, old enough to say he moves with me when I move, and old enough to make that true.
He was patient and good and loyal. He never warmed up to my husband (who he'd known for almost as long as he knew me) but that was okay. Murphy moved with me from Alaska, to Washington, to California and finally, New Jersey. He did the 12 hour drive from California to Washington so many times, he could have driven the way himself, blindfolded. He suffered through bows in his fur and blue sweaters during winter and was okay with that.
Then one day he was gone. His back finally gave out and he couldn't move and I had to make that hard decision most pet owners fear and dread. It was the right one, but after 17 years, I still miss him!
Years later, our kids were older, we had a nice big yard, and we decided to get a dog. Specifically, a puppy. I'd never had a puppy before and it was all new and strange and terribly hard! My Grandma (who is just as dog crazy as me) asked me if I loved our pup Emma Beagle as much as I had loved Murphy....I said no way. There was no dog who would ever knock Murphy out of his spot as best dog ever.
Well, I was not quite right! Emma (and Sarah and Olive) are just as beloved as Murphy, just as spoiled, just as treasured, just as naughty (the garbage is a universal dog love) and just as perfect. I count myself lucky to be living dog crazy with such great dogs. And a great husband who put up with one dog who actively hated him....and said it was okay to try again and own three dogs at once!
This post was inspired by prompt #2 over at Mama's Losin' It!
Murphy sounds like a great dog, and this was a great story!
ReplyDeleteThanks! When my kids were little, their favorite bedtime stories were Murphy stories. It was funny that they never met him, but knew all about him.
DeleteHaving three dogs means that there is one more dog than hands. Makes for challenging-and invigorating-walks. I need to write more about my own bowsers. Everyone has a "Murphy" in his or her past. Thanks for the evocative post.
ReplyDeleteWalking them is a challenge, especially because the Beagles go the same speed and the little one is slower and squirrelly. I've got a system, but the system is always better when someone else walks with me, and then I only have to hold one leash!
DeleteGrowing up, we had a series of dogs, but most of them only briefly because of moving around so much, etc and the fact that my mother really wasn't much of a dog lover. After I got married, we got Sydney, when the boys were small. She's really the only dog I've ever been deeply attached to. She died in 2003.
ReplyDeleteIn 2005, Hubby made a unilateral decision (over my objections) to get two more dogs. Consequently, they are HIS dogs. I am tickled by their antics on occasion, annoyed by their mischief fairly often, but I am not attached to them the way I was to Syd.
The story of how our third dog came into our life is complicated and full of finger-pointing, but the bottom line is it was basically a rescue situation. And again, I enjoy some of his tricks, tolerate the rest of his behavior, but don't have the same connection with him that I did with Sydney.
I like dogs in the abstract. It's all the concrete stuff that gets to me. ;)
I'm all about the concrete stuff. I love that dog smell that permeates everything...so yes, totally crazy! Our third dog is technically my daughters; she asked if she could save up $$ for a dog, and we said yes, never thinking she'd save $300 at the age of 12.
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