PUPPY LOVE

The newlyweds have a puppy.  He's an adorable miniature dachshund.  My BDIL (beautiful daughter –in-law) calls the little dog a “bundle of cuteness” and that describes him perfectly!

We got a dog when our son was in Kindergarten.  The one-year- old black toy poodle had been raised in someone’s backyard with Dobermans – an endearing five pounder with a fifty pound attitude!  We weren’t sure if it was going to work for us to keep him around because Jacque did not want to obey.  House training was difficult and my husband threaten to get rid of the dog.

One afternoon my sister was making play dough for the kids and the color came out a murky brown.  I seized on the opportunity to play a little trick on my husband and asked her to make doggie poops.  She’s an artist so it was no problem for her to make three little droppings.  I placed the masterpiece on my husband’s office chair in anticipation of his arrival home from work.  “Charlotte, Charlotte, come in here and see what your nasty dog has left on my chair!” he yelled.  I ran into the room and scooped up the mess with my bare hands while profusely apologizing.  His stunned silence and then the slow shake of his head provided the perfect ending to my prank.

Our beloved poodle lived with us for thirteen years.  He died in our son’s senior year in high school.  We buried the dog in the backyard and held a short devotional before praying.  My son said it was silly to go to all the trouble, and although he was probably right, it is the memories that we attach to our pets that provide closure to move on to the next event life has in store for us.  Pets die and our children grow up – it’s the timeline of life and there is a whole lot of nurturing going on in those formative years.  We commemorate births, attend graduations and weddings, we mark successes and learn from our failures.  All this living is enhanced with prayerful attitudes along with plenty of good food and fellowship!  We celebrate the moments and capture the memories for posterity. 

So, now we have a granddog.  I am glad my BDIL challenged me to get 5,000 people on Facebook because FB is the way I keep up with their little family escapades; like the time he went with his “parents” to the pumpkin patch and had his picture taken on a tractor.  It was all so precious  that it made me hope that someday they will have more babies – you know, the kind that don’t need to be scratched behind the ears to be happy!