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A dog tale
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___Wasn’t it just last week that Mark said we needed a dog to liven things up? That’s all the opening I needed.
___ We are now the proud owners of a yet-to-be-named puppy. In my defense, I didn’t go looking for this dog. She found us by way of a friend.
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ALISON WINGFIELD
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___ It all started innocently enough. I was at school for our annual volunteer sign-up (where you sign your life away for the school year) when I overheard a friend talking about a stray puppy they had found. She went on and on about how cute this puppy was and how no one was claiming it. She was asking someone else if they would be interested in taking the puppy.
___ The woman said no, she wasn’t ready for a dog. And before I knew it, the words were out of my mouth: "I’m interested."
___ I did call Mark before I went to look at her. And he was willing to give it a try. He also said something about "not too big."
___ Size considerations went out the window when I saw her. She is a sweetheart. My friend’s college-age son, who is the one who actually found her, was nice enough to help me take her to the vet to make sure she was OK.
___ Even the vet fell in love with her.
___ Part Husky, part Sheltie, she has a beautiful caramel coat, a husky tail with a Sheltie white tip and white paws. We’re hoping the Sheltie wins out over the Husky in size.
___ She’s already partly potty-trained, which compared to our battles with the boys is going to be a walk in the park (pun intended). Of course, she is a girl, so I wouldn’t expect any less.
___ Naming her is our biggest stumbling block. We each have our pet name, and nobody seems willing to budge. Since I’m the one who will be around her the most and thus take care of her, I think I should have the final say.
___ We should have no shortage of dog tales in the future.
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___The one point I attempted to make to Alison when she called to ask me about the puppy was that I didn't want a large dog. "I'm not interested in a dog that's going to grow into a small horse," I said emphatically. "I want a dog that can sit in your lap."
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MARK WINGFIELD
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"Oh, she's only a puppy" Alison replied assuringly.
___ When I got home that afternoon, I was greeted at the door by a 4-month-old puppy the size of a toddler. Obviously, our definitions of "large" aren't the same.
___ How can a part-Husky, part-Sheltie not be a large dog?
___ I'll admit this puppy is cute--and relatively well behaved for a puppy. Although I cringe every time I use the word "puppy" to describe a dog that's already larger than I wanted a full-grown dog to be.
___ Those who are faithful readers of this column will recall that for years I have been the holdout against our family having a pet. This is due partly to my allergies and partly to my family history.
___ My family could be called the Dr. Kevorkian of the canine world. Every dog we ever had when I was a child died an untimely and peculiar death. Even neighbor dogs came to our front yard to die.
___ So I enter this new phase of life with great trepidation. I hope the run of bad luck has been broken. More than that, I hope my mere presence won't be the cause of tragedy.
___ If we don't name this dog soon, however, she's going to become quite confused. Just when we thought we had settled on a name both boys liked and started calling her by that, we came up with other good name ideas.
___ If we're not careful, she's going to think her name is "Sweetie."
Mark Wingfield is managing editor of the Standard. Alison Wingfield is a freelance writer. The Wingfields moved to Texas from Louisville, Ky., where Mark had been editor of the Western Recorder, in which this column appeared weekly. |
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