Puppy Love

I never thought I'd be able to do it, but there, I've done it. After five long years of constant badgering by my daughter MG, we finally took the plunge and now we are a family of five. No, no worry. I am not pregnant, and I also haven't adopted another child. We have a dog.

Yes. A five-month old white poodle called Lucky who looks more like a fluffy toy than a real dog. It is even surprising he barks sometimes... He is very sweet and I have to admit, I am in love.

My husband MM is amused by the dog and has taken upon himself to take him out early morning.

My boy MB, who didn't really want the dog, now hugs him, kisses him on his head and rolls around with him on the floor. MB is generally not very effusive, but he as effusive than he's ever been with our puppy, Lucky.

My daughter MG was the one who wanted the dog. For five years, since before she was five, she asked me every day for a puppy. When she was seven she was already searching the Internet for places and people who sold or gave away dogs: she'd write the number on a piece of paper and bring it to me. "Call them," she's say. "They sell/give away dogs."

Her love for dogs was unhesitant: she loved all kinds. She'd bring me pictures of the cutest dogs but also of ugly mutts and say: "Lets go get him."

I demurred. At the age of five we pierced her years as a bribe for not getting her a dog, and after that we found other ways to stall her. But she was not daunted. She just kept coming: with the pictures and the phone numbers.

In the end I ceded. "We'll have to get her a dog," I told MM. "It will do her a world of good. All this unlimited love etc etc etc they always say a dog gives."  MM was hesitant. Both he and I never grew up with a dog. I hate the way dogs smell. I hate it when they bark.

When I told a vet we were thinking of getting a dog, I said: "I want a dog that doesn't shed, doesn't smell, and doesn't bark."

He answered dryly: "Get a toy dog."

In the end we broke and settled on a poodle (a toy poodle to be specific). They apparently don't shed and don't smell (I'm not sure about the smelling - I can definitely smell him). And luckily our Lucky doesn't bark much (not yet, anyway).

When we picked up the puppy three months ago, MG, MB and me, MB was hesitant. MG chose him out of the litter (he was just two months old then) and hugged him to her all the way home in the car. She decided what his name would be: "We are lucky to have him, and he is lucky to have us," she said.

That first night we faithfully followed instructions: put him in a separate room with newspapers and closed the door. Then we went to bed. But the puppy cried and cried and wailed. It was heartbreaking and we were all very upset. In the end my 10-year old MG, who is, I can now say, definitely a natural with dogs, said defiantly: "That's it. I am bringing him to my room." And she brought him to her room despite our protests that he would poo and pee all over her room. "He is lonely and he is missing his brothers and sisters, don't you understand?" she chided us. She sat down on the floor near him and consoled him lovingly, softly and with a tenderness that was heartbreaking - giving us a fast forward look at the kind of love she'd be pouring onto her own future children.

Ever since he has become a full member of our family, but MG is Lucky's Mum. He follows her wherever she goes, sleeps in her room, shadows her constantly. He cries when she leaves and jumps when she comes home. She can do anything to him - roll with him, push him away, laugh with him, cuddle him, shower him and comb his poodle hair and he'll just come back for more. When MG is away he shadows MB, and when both of them are away, he shadows me.

We have got over (we hope) the poo-ing and peeing stage and because we have a house with a garden, taking him for walks is not so critical. So all in all we are happy we took the plunge. The only thing is....MG has started a new campaign now....believe it or not...for a second dog. That is definitely not going to happen. I think.  

Photo credit: http://ladyepuriru.blogspot.com/2010/03/poodle-or-pug.html