May-Ling
KAPOH, Nov 26, 2016
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- JOURNALING:
Once, I had the perfect dog. Now I don't. I have a terrier. Well, fortunately for me, she's only PART terrier. A full-blooded terrier? I'm just too old.
In 1995, through a serendipitous meeting with a dog lover, I came into possession of the "perfect" dog. Well, the breeder didn't think she was perfect. Practically her first words to me over the phone when I called the number that dog lover had provided to me were, "Now, she's not perfect." I was so desperate to have another Shih Tzu in my life that I really didn't care about perfection. Imagining all sorts of problems, I breathed a sigh of relief when I learned her "defect" was she didn't have a black rim around one eye.
We got her home on Mother's Day that year. I took three months vacation from my job to get her started in her new home. That's when I first discovered she really was PERFECT. Imagine my surprise when I looked in a pamphlet on crate training a pup and saw her picture! Well, maybe not. But it COULD have been. She learned what she was supposed to do immediately and was textbook in doing it. Put her to bed in her pink crate. Take her out first thing in the morning. Pee. Bring her back in. Feed her. A little bit later, take her back out. Poop. And so it went. Perfectly on time. She even would enter the crate on her own in the afternoon for a nap (during which time we could go out and do errands, like grocery shopping). Oh, sure, there were the occasional times when I had to take her out in the rain (holding an umbrella over her, of course, and she had to stop and watch the water come out of the downspout instead of tending to business. But, after all, this was a whole new world to her.)
Then there was the time I smuggled her into my office in the courthouse (this before 9-11 and x-ray machines at all doors). I put her down in a big purse and told her to be quiet. Not a peep! Even in the elevator. She was a big hit in the office. At one point a couple co-workers "stole" her while I checked in with the boss so they could play with her. She was perfect (and NEVER peed on the carpet).
Once I did go back to work I found out "perfect" can be a bit boring. Each morning, a group of us would get together in my office for morning break and usually tell tales about what shenanigans our dogs had gotten in to. I didn't have any stories! Only how perfect mine was. How she learned what to do with the doggie door after just my once showing it to her. How she learned "fetch" immediately, and was even good at giving me a "high five." She didn't get in to things. She didn't tear up stuff. She didn't run out the front door if it was left open.
Now, I have a terrier. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE the terrier temperament. You just have to know what you are getting into when you let one of them steal your heart. I had "perfect" and I don't think I could ever be so lucky as to have perfect again. Maybe that's why I have a terrier. Perfect just isn't in their DNA.
CREDITS: Furbabies Puppy Dogs by Kristin Aagard; FONT: Comic Sans; Arial
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- Category:
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- Uploaded By:
- KAPOH
- Date:
- Nov 26, 2016
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