Doggie
Mar. 22nd, 2008 | 06:39 pm
So today, I fell in complete and utter love.
My first cat, Tasha, was gotten in sulky protest instead of a dog since I lived in a small apartment. Fortunately, she was an extremely one-person cat who hated everyone but me, so after a time I grew to love her for that particular quality. The Little One was pure accident – and he got me far more than I got him (he followed me home), and, as it turned out, was not so secretly a dog at heart (he played fetch with me this morning) and I got the Grey One for him. (The Grey One, incidentally, is distinctly his cat, not mine. As I type this, he is sitting on her.)
But the Little One is enough of a dog that I thought my dog lust had been cured, for the most part. Until today, when while shopping with Loucheroo I saw a puppy. An absolutely marvelous puppy. Actually, we saw quite a lot of puppies – an animal rescue group had brought them to the mall in the hopes that susceptible people just like me would see the puppy and take it home. Most of the puppies were quite cute and meant absolutely nothing to me. You know the puppy type. This particular puppy was utterly beautiful, and soft, and brown, with lovely soft ears, and yes, ok, clearly a mutt, and quiet, and was also the sort of doggie that would insist on getting up on the couch and sleeping on your lap, and also clearly the sort of dog that didn't quite grasp the difference between dogs and people. My sort of dog. The animal rescue person was snuggling the puppy in her arms, and I reached out and scratched her head (the puppy's head) and the puppy looked up at me.
"I want it," I said.
Even with my love for dogs, this was only the second time this has happened.
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loucheroo, considerably more practical than I, pointed out that if the dog was this large at just 10 weeks, she was going to be an enormous dog indeed (based on the paw size, this is true) and that my apartment didn't have space for two cats, one human and a small dog, let alone a very large dog.
"I want it," I said, shutting my eyes to the other serious problem: with my current job I wouldn't be able to housetrain the puppy, let alone take it on the long walks this particular puppy was clearly going to need, and that it wouldn't be fair to the puppy.
"She's incredibly sweet," said the animal rescue person, not helping the situation. "I wanted to keep her myself, but my husband keeps pointing out that we already have four dogs…"
"Would the Grey One really appreciate a puppy?"loucheroo pointed out.
"The Little One would," I said. (This is true. He loves dogs. The last time he met a dog he wanted to bring the dog into the house. And the last time he met a cat, and the last time he met a person, and the last time he met a lizard – if it's alive, The Little One wants to either play with it or sit on it or both. It is equally true that the Grey One would not appreciate the presence of a dog in the household, and few of us would appreciate the resulting Siamese wails.)
We had some problems dragging me away from the puppy, even with the help of chocolate, and hours later, to be truthful, I'm still thinking about that puppy. Someday, I'm telling myself again, I'll be in a position where I can have a dog again. And then, hopefully, I'll find a puppy or dog, just like the one today.
(As I typed that, the Little One climbed into my lap and fell asleep.)
Incidentally, I am sorry to have to tell you that I have caughtloucheroo in a mendacious moment: she told me that her pregnancy has made her less hot, and I'm telling you, it's had the completely opposite effect. Completely. I went lingerie shopping with her, so I know.
My first cat, Tasha, was gotten in sulky protest instead of a dog since I lived in a small apartment. Fortunately, she was an extremely one-person cat who hated everyone but me, so after a time I grew to love her for that particular quality. The Little One was pure accident – and he got me far more than I got him (he followed me home), and, as it turned out, was not so secretly a dog at heart (he played fetch with me this morning) and I got the Grey One for him. (The Grey One, incidentally, is distinctly his cat, not mine. As I type this, he is sitting on her.)
But the Little One is enough of a dog that I thought my dog lust had been cured, for the most part. Until today, when while shopping with Loucheroo I saw a puppy. An absolutely marvelous puppy. Actually, we saw quite a lot of puppies – an animal rescue group had brought them to the mall in the hopes that susceptible people just like me would see the puppy and take it home. Most of the puppies were quite cute and meant absolutely nothing to me. You know the puppy type. This particular puppy was utterly beautiful, and soft, and brown, with lovely soft ears, and yes, ok, clearly a mutt, and quiet, and was also the sort of doggie that would insist on getting up on the couch and sleeping on your lap, and also clearly the sort of dog that didn't quite grasp the difference between dogs and people. My sort of dog. The animal rescue person was snuggling the puppy in her arms, and I reached out and scratched her head (the puppy's head) and the puppy looked up at me.
"I want it," I said.
Even with my love for dogs, this was only the second time this has happened.
loucheroo, considerably more practical than I, pointed out that if the dog was this large at just 10 weeks, she was going to be an enormous dog indeed (based on the paw size, this is true) and that my apartment didn't have space for two cats, one human and a small dog, let alone a very large dog."I want it," I said, shutting my eyes to the other serious problem: with my current job I wouldn't be able to housetrain the puppy, let alone take it on the long walks this particular puppy was clearly going to need, and that it wouldn't be fair to the puppy.
"She's incredibly sweet," said the animal rescue person, not helping the situation. "I wanted to keep her myself, but my husband keeps pointing out that we already have four dogs…"
"Would the Grey One really appreciate a puppy?"
loucheroo pointed out."The Little One would," I said. (This is true. He loves dogs. The last time he met a dog he wanted to bring the dog into the house. And the last time he met a cat, and the last time he met a person, and the last time he met a lizard – if it's alive, The Little One wants to either play with it or sit on it or both. It is equally true that the Grey One would not appreciate the presence of a dog in the household, and few of us would appreciate the resulting Siamese wails.)
We had some problems dragging me away from the puppy, even with the help of chocolate, and hours later, to be truthful, I'm still thinking about that puppy. Someday, I'm telling myself again, I'll be in a position where I can have a dog again. And then, hopefully, I'll find a puppy or dog, just like the one today.
(As I typed that, the Little One climbed into my lap and fell asleep.)
Incidentally, I am sorry to have to tell you that I have caught
loucheroo in a mendacious moment: she told me that her pregnancy has made her less hot, and I'm telling you, it's had the completely opposite effect. Completely. I went lingerie shopping with her, so I know.