Woof!

Happy National Dog Day!

If you’re a dog owner, take a moment to give your fur-baby an extra belly rub or two and maybe an extra treat. I know our dogs have always loved both! They won’t know why you’re doing it, but if they are anything like ours past and present, they won’t care.

And no knock to anyone who has a different furry or not-so-furry friend. There’s National Cat Day. National Reptile Day. Even National Iguana Awareness Day. Every pet is special for a reason. As it is, James and I both like cats. Unfortunately, he’s allergic, so having one has never been an option. Lucky for me, because Spotted Dog would not be Spotted Dog if one of our last dogs, Luna, hadn’t been laying on the couch while we were working out names.

Although I wonder what the firm would have been called if Snickers had been there. Or one of the others besides Luna. I’m not sure what Daisy, Cecil, Ginny, or Boo would have generated.

Amazingly, a firm name was the last thing on my radar when we adopted Daisy in 2002. After domesticating for a year in our home, having a dog seemed like the next step. Sure, we were happy to see each other in the evening. However, there’s something special about how excited a dog gets no matter how long you’ve been gone. An hour. A day. Twenty seconds to check the mailbox. Every Basset we’ve had could not be more excited to see us.

What’s amazing is that all of them have been rescues. Which makes you wonder who would give them up in the first place. For our first, Daisy, we were the third owners by the time she had her first birthday. Owner number one moved and just left her in the backyard. What the actual…?!?!? Talk about having separation anxiety!

Snickers, the current Basset-in-residence, came to us from an older couple who could not keep him because of an illness. So not every rescue has a sad story. However, you do wonder what their home life must have been like. Snickers likes being on the couch with us, except that means 50 lbs. of Basset Hound laying on top of you. I’m picturing one of the former owners in a recliner with a hound on their lap.

But he is getting us trained to make sure there’s room for him to stretch out across us. And sometimes to help him up on the couch. Oddly, he has taken to doing what both Cecil and Boo used to do – getting James up in the middle of the night to go sit on the couch. Not the best when it comes to sleeping, but no way he’s getting in the bed with us. We learned with the first dog how dangerous that could be.

However, like every dog, we’re happy to have him, even when he sneaks something off the kitchen counter. For someone with short legs, he really can stretch if something smells good enough. Not sure how Great Dane owners manage that! And certainly not something we imagined dealing with. Although we learned that quickly with Daisy, who somehow managed to sneak chocolate chip cookies one night while we watched a movie.

No doubt Snickers and us will continue to wear down each other’s rough edges. And when we can finally find him a partner in crime, maybe he’ll decide he doesn’t need James to sleep on the couch. For now, though, I’ll go home this afternoon, scratch and rub as much as he (or I) can stand it, give him a treat, and wish him a Happy National Dog Day!