Fur Children

So, I decided that our blog would not truly be complete until I included at least one post about our little furry friends. For those who don't know (look at me, writing as if my readership extends beyond the two people I know have read this already, and probably won't read it again...) we have two dogs, Lucy and Daisy.
Since we, as of yet, have no human children to call our own we have settled on referring to our pets as our "fur children". I have rationalized that calling them fur children (and treating them as such) is not pathetic for a couple of reasons:
a) Dan and I are married. If it were just me, living alone with a steadily increasing brood of dogs/cats etc. THAT would be pathetic. But it's not. I have a husband. See...the difference...see...?
b) we don't costume them. (Sorry Lisa) Okay, disclaimer: I once bought Lucy a sweater when we went to Utah and I was afraid she would be cold in the snow. I think she wore it once and then tried to chew it off.
So, our fur children. Actually, now that I think of it, it may just be me that calls them that. I don't recall Dan ever using the term. In fact, I am now remembering some indistinct mumbling coming from somewhere in his vicinity when I have referred to them as fur children in the past...hmm. Wonder what that's about...?
Anyway, Lucy and Daisy. We have had Lucy since she was about eight months old. We adopted her from the pound. She is, in my humble opinion, the smartest dog in the world. Not to mention the cutest. When I think about how we adopted her I realize now how lucky we are. We had been looking for a dog to adopt for about two weeks and had just lost out on a lottery at the Humane Society. We were on our way home and passed the pound, which we had checked at least a dozen times before, only to find cats and pit bulls. But for some reason that afternoon I begged Dan to stop there again.
As we were walking through I was beginning to think that our trip had been another waste of time. Then we came to her kennel. All I remember seeing was a brown and white blur that was jumping up to about eyebrow height (which was no small feat, considering she is less than two feet high!)
When I asked the volunteer if we could take her out of the kennel I saw Dan raise his eyebrows skeptically.
I, of course, chose to ignore him. (Even though we'd only been married a couple of years at that point, I was already pretty good at it!) The volunteer put her on a lead and we walked to the hallway which apparently served as the get-to-know-the-animal-you-may-take-home area. We spent about five minutes with her. I could tell that Dan's concerns were not put to rest, since most of the five minutes was spent like this: Lucy jumping around everywhere in an attempt to lick our foreheads, me trying to get her to calm down, and Dan watching it all from the corner.
"Can we take her home?" I asked. "I guess..." said Dan.


So, we took her home and, amazingly, she turned out to be an (almost) perfect dog!
That's the story of her pretend birth that I tell her every year on her pretend birthday.

Funnily enough, we got Daisy in a similar manner. Kind of...
One day last September I was walking into my classroom in the morning. I saw in the distance our janitor leading what appeared to be a dirty dust mop around on a lead. Now, mangy dogs showing up on our campus is not unusual. One of my fellow teachers ended up taking her to get groomed (she was a mess!) and taking her home.
It took me about one day to convince Dan that we should go see the dog. We thought that she might be a Lhasa Apso, and Dan just kept saying that he "didn't want a little dog". Whatever...
So, long story...less long, we saw her, decided that she was pretty cute, even though she looked a little like a pink and gray shaved rat (since all her matted fur had to be shaved off) and took her home.
We have learned a few things since bringing her home:
1: There is a HUGE difference between dog breeds. Lucy is made up of breeds that are almost exclusively interested in pleasing their people. She would rather die than disappoint us. Daisy is made up of breed(s) that don't really care very much about pleasing others. In fact, I am convinced that her main goal in life is to find as many ways as possible for her people to please HER! This aspect of Daisy's personality makes Lucy VERY uncomfortable. In fact, it is not uncommon in our house to see Dan or myself attempting to get Daisy to obey, while Lucy repeatedly does whatever command it is we are giving to Daisy. It's almost like she's trying to say "Look, here's how you do it, see! It's not that hard, just do it!"
2: Having one dog sleep on your bed with you is okay (as long as she stays on my side and doesn't touch Dan). Having two dogs sleep on your bed with you is...too much. Having one dog sleep in bed with you while the other dog is in her crate makes for a sleepless night. For some reason Daisy is perfectly content to sleep in HER crate, as long as Lucy is also sleeping in hers. However, Lucy being allowed to sleep on the bed while Daisy is relegated to her crate is, in Daisy's opinion, unacceptable.
3. Dan and I are, in reality, not the master dog trainers that Lucy let us believe that we were. Enough said...
4. Evolutionarily speaking: Lucy is running laps around Daisy. For example: Daisy wants any toy that Lucy has. She will not hesitate to come over and snatch it from her. For whatever reason, Lucy does not object to this. However, she has learned that all she needs to do is to get another toy, which Daisy will promptly snatch from her, leaving the original toy (the one that Lucy really wanted in the first place) available. To date, Daisy has not caught on to this ploy. Also, if Daisy is playing with a toy that Lucy wants, Lucy will go around behind her and pull on her tail (which Daisy HATES). Daisy will drop the toy and whip her head around. At this point Lucy will snatch the abandoned toy and run off with it. Poor Daisy...
5. Having two dogs that are young and energetic is not the same as having two dogs when one of them is 15 years old, one-eyed, deaf, and perfectly content to lay in the corner and sleep all day. This is especially true when going to Petsmart. Apparently, although they only have a combined weight of 45 lbs, when leashed and somehow working together, they can pull a small car.
Overall, I am very glad that we have these dogs in our lives. Their entertainment value alone is priceless. Not to mention their companionship and devotion. :)