The Doghouse

This morning, the baby learned a new trick: how to let the dog out of his crate.  While making a bed, I was surprised to have the dog trot down for a visit. I let him outside and went to investigate.  I found a little mischief-maker in the crate.

Our dog, Emmitt, is a humongous chocolate lab with a tail that can thwack, a bark that prompts calls from a "concerned neighbor," and a bad habit of eating children's socks.  Yesterday, I found several of said socks in the yard; they had made their way out of his system one way or another. Gross.

There are dog people out there, and then, there are those of us who marry dog people. 

I have a friend who is one of the funniest non-dog people I know.  She has four kids, and her husband and kids started in on the dog theme a couple of years ago.  She hemmed and hawed until a scruffy little dog showed up at her house one night for dinner; some dog-loving and -rescuing friends had come for dinner and were real keen on this dog "Molly," but they couldn't keep her because they had too many dogs of their own.  She was tucked into a tiny box and looked so sweet that, lo and behold, my friend MK welcomed Molly into her home.

Molly is a pint-sized version of Sandy from Annie, with the huge bonus that she arrived with heartworm. She seems a touch like those malteepoos you see, but maybe without the bloodlines.  Suddenly, MK, who had barely glanced at anyone else's dogs over the years, was carrying this scrawny mutt in her arms when she opened the door to her home and then holding her in her lap while you sat in the living room.  She took her on trips.  And she took her to the vet (heartworm, you know).  Molly really was kind of endearing and didn't seem to cause a bit of trouble (except maybe the heartworm thing).

One day, her little buddy Molly refused to go on a walk with MK.  She just sat down on the sidewalk and wouldn't budge.  MK thought it was a little odd, but didn't give it that much thought. She has four kids to think about, after all.

That night, when they got home from dinner, they found Molly on the floor not moving and breathing heavily.  MK sent her husband to the emergency vet and began to prepare her children for the worst.  Her husband called with the news: "Molly is in labor."

Now, my friend who is not a dog person has two dogs. And they don't know who the father is.