My wife and I have been married for 32 years. In that time our pets, more commonly known to us as dogs, have taken a large part of that shared life together. It is no secret that these sometimes small friends are able to take the sting out of loneliness, the hurt out of bad relationships, or in our case, add happiness to an already happy time. The first dog we had was a mix of german shepherd and black lab. The dog was a female, with mostly black, and some brown. We called her Berny, after her long name of Bernecia Bernard the first. My wife had picked her up when we first decided to tie the knot. She showed me this small puppy when we met the next day after she received her. I was glad, for I did like dogs. It wasnt long before I moved to another city some twenty miles away and took the small dog with me. A short time later, we were married and started our new life together. It was sheer h___, the first six months of our marriage. Two strong personalities that had trouble getting along. But, eventually we learned as other couples do. That is,that those differences when you were first married , you know the ones. Those things in each other you simply could not put up with, well after time and years, along with age; you decide that those things were not as bad as you thought. You simply stop fighting and started enjoying each other. It was during those times of the early years this german shepherd mix would be the friend to both of us. She was trained to go ask to go out, well trained to sit and stay, and a number of other commands. After awhile, it seemed the dog could just understand us as we spoke to her. We had her some 12 years, before she died. We missed her terribly. A good friend had left us. One we loved very much. A tear still fondly fills my eye as I recall this. It was this shortage of dog power around, that led us to get our next dog. This one lasted fifteen years. A registered toy poodle named Lady Cocoa Puff Bon Bon. She was a fiesty chocolate color, with spit and vinegar in her spirit. We loved her from the start. She too became potty trained and with Berny, could almost seem to know what we wanted just by our talking to her. She, though, unlike our other dog, was stubborn at times. If she wanted to go with you and you left her home, be prepared to find her leaving a mess of torn up paper and anything else she could get ahold of. As she grew older, her sight went bad, she could not move well. In the end, she left us as well. I chuckle now, thinking of this small spitfire. We have had two dogs, some 27 of the 32 years of marriage. We never got another dog, as of yet. We keep looking, but with already having two of the finest dogs ever put on Gods earth, it is hard to think we could find another one as loyal, loving, and of independent character as the two we have had. In all, we decided to, if we get another, lets do a poodle again... |
