These next couple months are going to be for the dogs, I decided.
The more the merrier.
Last week, we had the privilege of spending the week with Disco and Axel, who joined our two pups for a weeklong visit while their humans were on their honeymoon.
Sounds hectic? It turned out to be bliss, compared to the outside world. Sure, it was crazy, and our lawn is somewhat like a minefield right now, but compared to the world around us, I choose puppy chaos.
I didn’t have time to follow the 24-hour news cycle. I wasn’t bombarded from both sides with constant negativity. I didn’t have time to see who got a crappy Big Mac on Facebook or who was wronged by their neighbor’s loud truck in the middle of the night.
It was just me, four pooches and, of course, my darling bride.
I’m generally the one in charge of the dog duty. I believe I get along with any dog better than a majority of humans. They listen to me, and I listen to them. Our two visitors are a little more prone to alerting us of any possible intrusion. It took a few days for them to realize that every vehicle that passes our home is not a threat of danger. When one barks, pretty soon you have a symphony. When a dog was barking a couple blocks away, that got the whole chaos going again.
Still, it was a pleasant diversion for the week.
For some reason, people in our family feel the need to have two dogs. We’ve had two for at least a couple decades. I don’t know how it happened, but when one dog would leave us, my then-young children believed we needed another. You know the drill: They’re going to take care of it, etc., etc. The old man knew that wasn’t going to happen. I knew I was going to have that dog tethered to me for a month for training. I knew it was going to be me feeding it. I knew I was going to be the one bathing it when it met up with a skunk, and then bathing it again and again.
Our dogs and their “cousins” always get along well. We have to be a little on alert, because apparently our dogs have strange feeding habits. With the dogs we get to “sit,” when the dogs food bowl is filled, within 30 seconds its gone, morning and night. Our dogs, on the other hand, eat when they’re hungry. I fill the dog bowl in the morning, and they meander there from time to time throughout the day. That means there is some competition for food. Measures have to be taken to make sure the visitors don’t devour their food, because they will.
Our weekend adventures also often include a couple guinea pigs. Don’t ask. I stay strictly on dog duty, however. My rule is that I don’t care for anything in the weasel family. I don’t get them, and they don’t get me. My wife has become an expert in the care of these pet rodents.
We said goodbye to Disco and Axel over the weekend, and it was sad to see them go. It was a good week, even it was for the dogs.