During the early part of November 2004, my wife and I made regular (almost weekly) trips to the local puppy store to peruse and play with the puppies. This particular puppy store has a very relaxed policy regarding playing with the puppies. You, yourself are allowed to pull any puppy out of it's cage and play with it in one of the play pens, as long as one of the pens was available. Brilliant. For weeks we would just go and play with whatever cute puppies they had at the time. Then one fateful day, they happened to have an English Bulldog puppy and that was the beginning...of the end. I had always loved the look of the English Bulldog, but never really considered one as a personal pet. That is, until we saw this puppy...
English Bulldog puppies have to be one of the cutest things on the face of God's green earth. They're covered in wrinkles & rolls and are the most adorable things ever. I almost instantly fell in love with the breed. This puppy in particular was an 8 week old female with a nice, white color. She was cute, a bit timid, and was wheezing from having a bit of a cold. I was in love. Unfortunately, I would never buy a puppy from a puppy store like that. The source of the puppies is always suspect, they charge WAY too much, and I would much prefer to buy from a reputable breeder specific to a paticular breed.
Over the next few days I researched the traits of the English Bulldog breed. They're known to be calm and lazy with a very mild temperment. Some of what I read suggested that they require very little exercise. My wife and I were living in a 1 bedroom apartment at the time and it seemed like the English Bulldog would make the ideal apartment dog. Perfect. It was a match made in heaven...or so we thought. And so began the search for a dog of our own...
Friday, August 10, 2007
And they call it puppy love...
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Husky Envy
I love dogs of all kinds, but early on in my dog loving "career" I was most attracted to one breed in particular...The Siberian Husky. From it's looks to it's stunning eye colors to it's temperment and loyalty, the Siberian Husky just seemed to have so much going for it. It was almost set in stone that when I finally got around to getting a dog of my own, I was going to get a Husky. That was, until one fine evening quite a few years later when I had a breed altering experience...
This night in particular, I was all dressed up and ready for a night out on the town. I stopped by an old friend's house to meet up with some other friends that were accompanying us on this said night out. This friend happened to have a Siberian Husky. She was a beautiful dog...had a beautiful patterning on her coat, and incredible bright blue eyes. Absolutely stunning. However, her beautiful looks concealed a deep, dark secret...this dog was downright crazy. She was super active and would go buck wild whenever people would come over. Now, this isn't really the dog's fault...it was completely my friend's fault for a lack of proper exercise and "rules, boundaries, and limitations" as Cesar Milan would put it. But the craziness wasn't the breed altering part for me.
After about a half hour of the dog barking, jumping, and generally going nuts after I walked in the door, she finally calmed down enough that I could pet and play with her. And pet and play with her I did. She loved the attention and begged for more; constantly pressing into my leg to keep me from stopping. After petting her for quite a while, I broke away and headed off to the bathroom to wash my hands, and that's when it happened. While washing my hands I looked in the mirror and noticed my pants, which were previously black, were now a strange shade of gray...gray from the insane amount of dog hair that had come from my play session with the Husky. I tried using a lint/dog hair brush to clean it up, but to no avail. The brush was no match for the sheer amount of dog hair that now clung to every fiber on the front of my pants. Nothing short of a new pair of pants could remedy the situation.
So that's what I did. I drove home and changed before heading out for our night out on the town. That's when I realized that a long-haired dog that shed a lot like the Husky probably wouldn't be right for me. I still love the look of the Husky but I own way too many black clothes for that to be feasible. So once again, the search was on for a favorite breed...
Can I get a dog, Mom?...Please, please, PLEASE?!!!
Since early childhood, I have always wanted a dog. I always wanted a little companion to my crazed little shenanigans. Some one to follow me around and get into the same trouble that I got into. For the longest time, I begged and pleaded with my parents to let me get a dog, but the answer was always a firm, "No!". You see, my parents were not dog people by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, my Mom was downright scared of dogs. So, despite all my bickering, complaining, and begging they always stood their ground. And wisely so.
In hindsight, I was way too young and irresponsible to have a dog back then. If they had let me get one, it would have ended up being them, not me, that cared for it on a daily basis. Yeah, I would have played with the dog most of the time, when it was convenient for me to do so, but in my opinion a child is just not responsible enough to do everything it takes to care for a dog alone. A child isn't going to want to do all the walking, feeding, cleaning, etc. that comes along as part of responsible dog ownership. So, someone else has to be there to take up the slack, and that burden would have fallen on my parents. That wouldn't have been fair to my parents (not having wanted a dog in the first place) or to the dog. Had my parents been dog people themselves, then it might have been a different story. Luckily for all involved parties, they never waivered in their decision and I had to wait. And wait I did.
