Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Why I love my dog
I am just finishing the book Marly and Me. Sounds like such a cliche, but I laughed, and I cried.
When Chloe came home from the hospital, Maverick quickly accepted his place as second fiddle. The bulk of my attention went to her, and I have not been as loving or as patient with Maverick as I used to be. This book made me realize that, and also made me realize just how much I love my dog. So, in no particular order, here are the things I love about Maverick:
1. When I am sad, he tries to sit all 100 lbs of himself in my lap, tilts his head, perks his ears and nudges me with his nose.
2. When Martin and I are having a disagreement, he gets between us, sits down and whines. It always makes us laugh and forget what we were disagreeing on.
3. When we get home from being out, he does a lap around the first floor and brings us something...a shoe, one of Chloe's toys...anything really, then dances around with it trying to get us to chase him.
4. When you say "squirrel" he jumps to his feet and runs to the nearest window, skidding as he tries to stop himself on the wooden floors. It doesn't matter how often we tease him with this...he still does it.
5. When you are putting away the groceries, he follows you around the kitchen, sits and looks up at you expectantly every time you stop moving. He wants the paper bags to "recycle". Once you give them to him, he moves toward the recycling bin and looks back at you every two steps to be sure you are following. It's his favorite trick...probably because the recycling bins are about 5 feet away from his treat jar.
6. He is eternally faithful. He's always willing to give hugs despite the number of times I have yelled at him for nothing during my more stressed out moments.
When Chloe came home from the hospital, Maverick quickly accepted his place as second fiddle. The bulk of my attention went to her, and I have not been as loving or as patient with Maverick as I used to be. This book made me realize that, and also made me realize just how much I love my dog. So, in no particular order, here are the things I love about Maverick:
1. When I am sad, he tries to sit all 100 lbs of himself in my lap, tilts his head, perks his ears and nudges me with his nose.
2. When Martin and I are having a disagreement, he gets between us, sits down and whines. It always makes us laugh and forget what we were disagreeing on.
3. When we get home from being out, he does a lap around the first floor and brings us something...a shoe, one of Chloe's toys...anything really, then dances around with it trying to get us to chase him.
4. When you say "squirrel" he jumps to his feet and runs to the nearest window, skidding as he tries to stop himself on the wooden floors. It doesn't matter how often we tease him with this...he still does it.
5. When you are putting away the groceries, he follows you around the kitchen, sits and looks up at you expectantly every time you stop moving. He wants the paper bags to "recycle". Once you give them to him, he moves toward the recycling bin and looks back at you every two steps to be sure you are following. It's his favorite trick...probably because the recycling bins are about 5 feet away from his treat jar.
6. He is eternally faithful. He's always willing to give hugs despite the number of times I have yelled at him for nothing during my more stressed out moments.
