Dog Days

When I first met our dog, Emmitt, he was a teeny chocolate lab puppy who tumbled out of a neighbor's wagon onto our front lawn and stretched out for a nap. Our kids were 18 months and almost 3 at the time, and our savvy neighbor told his high school-age kids to bring a wagon full of their new litter over to our house.  Emmitt promptly nestled up close to me and slept.

I strolled the kids over to the neighbor's house a few days later, and that little Emmitt was his same laid-back self. Just a sleeping blob. What's not to love?  If we were to get a dog, I wanted this one. Quiet, still, a sleeper. I didn't want one of his jabbering sisters or playful brothers. Just one to snooze quietly on the floor next to me. Like a cat.

Well, turns out that the second Emmitt moved over to our house, he got a new personality. A jumpy, barky, social personality. Where, oh where, had my sleeping dog gone? 

I now spend a lot of time saying, "Emmitt!" in an exasperated voice.  Grabbing a pull-up out of a trashcan and racing through the house shredding it? Emmitt! Snatching a favorite stuffed animal out of a shrieking child's hands and running around the yard like a maniac?  Emmitt!  Barking like crazy, but then not coming inside when called? Emmitt! Knocking over the baby on his way out the door? Emmitt!

But this week, Emmitt has been my buddy. My husband has been out of town, and I HATE staying at home without him. I almost always figure out a way around it--importing a friend from out of town, loading up the kids and going to stay with family, or loading everyone up and just traveling with my husband! But this week, after I had exhausted all options, it was time to suck it up.

And one little pearl from the week is that in the evenings after the kids are in bed, I have given Emmitt a rawhide bone and let him hang out with me in the family room. His tail thumps loudly and he scoots my ottoman over continuously with his closeness, but I'll admit, he's been nice to have around. It made me think that in a few more years, he just might be back to that Emmitt I first met. That nice, quiet, sleeping dog.