A Girl & Her Dog

A Girl & Her Dog

I was fortunate to have a dog in my daily life from the age of eleven onward. My first dog, McDuff–a giant Bouvier de Flanders–was like a brother to me. Dogs are more than family, they are best friends. I would be a lonely soul without my dogs. My dogs are my running companions, meditation companions, my security system, and someone to grab and snuggle when I so desire.

My daughters have all been born into a house with a dog. They bonded deeply with our family dogs from birth onward. Not surprisingly, in all those years, we had a few little dog/baby mishaps. I am a very vigilant dog owner–I know dogs, and I never left my babies/toddlers unsupervised with our dogs, despite knowing they are super gentle with humans; however, once I put my first newborn baby (Mist) into her car seat, strapped her in and then placed the car seat in the middle of the sofa while I went into the kitchen to quickly grab something.

When I came out of the kitchen, my big pug Weldy was sitting in the carseat on top of baby Mistaya’s lap! It might have been “cute” but he weighed 24 lbs and newborn Misty 7 lbs!  He was a true lover who loved the baby a little too much and had no idea he was way too big for her lap!

Nine years later, my 3rd baby, Pippi was crawling on our hardwood floor and Weldy (who was now a senior dog of 14 years) decided to poop. I didn’t see him poop, and the poop was already in Pippi’s chubby little hand and then her mouth before I discovered it!

Weldy died before Pippi turned two. It took me almost a year before I felt ready for another dog—I was mourning the loss of my amazing boy.

We adopted our second pug, Fernando, when Pippi was two. Fernando proved to be the most wired pug we’d ever encountered—so much fiesty energy! Pippi and Fernando bonded instantly and it was quite intense: Pippi thought she was a dog and Fernando thought she was too. They played together like litter mates from the start.

Pablo (dog in the pics) is a very high energy dog who can get on people’s nerves at times; however, my middle daughter, Tabs, immediately formed a special bond with him. It is great because when everyone is upset with him ( and me—he is my boy) for some doggy infraction, I know I can count on Tabitha to help me with the fall out.

The life-long companionship and deep love that I’ve shared with my dogs inspired me to write about a girl’s love for her dog in my new novel Queen Of The Godforsaken. 

I took these photo’s last weekend of Pippi and Pablo. I thought I’d share them as they seem to capture the ultimate trust between a girl and her dog.