Bringing Happy. in A New Beginning

Our chocolate Lab, Guinness, is my best buddy. I never thought I would love and feel for an animal the way I’ve come to love and feel for him. When I was growing up, my Dad did not want pets in the house, so all I had when I was quite young and we lived in the country was an outdoor cat, After we moved into town, I never had any pets. So of course I was eager to get a pet when Joe and I got married, as he was! But he had grown up with dogs and cats, and was used to them. I really wasn’t, and with our first dog, a big mixed-breed named Duke, it came as a surprise how rambunctious he was, how much he barked, how he peed on the floor anytime he got over-excited....oh, so many things! :oO !! When I became pregnant and it got close to baby-time, I told Joe that I just could not cope with Duke and a new baby. Plus, we were getting ready to move (we were in the military) from California to Maine, and it just seemed like taking this rowdy big fella was going to be TOO MUCH. We had a number of guy friends who loved Duke, though, and one of them lived out in the country and was super-happy to give him a home.

Our new dogs I liked, but I was raising the kids and didn’t get emotionally attached to any pets, because I was just SO immersed in the kids and Joe. They were all good dogs, but to me they were just pets. Annie, the English Springer, was a PERFECT dog, and I hated to give her away, but we had our military orders to go to England. At that time, animals being brought into the U.K. had to be housed in a quarantine kennel for six months, and that was expensive, but the main thing was, I just didn’t think that was any way for a good dog to have to live. So we gave her to our neighbors, who were happy to have her.

We got back to the States after three years and Joe brought home Blue, a beagle puppy. Blue was lovable as the dickens, but he was kinda dumb. Smart about hunting rabbits, I’m sure, but not so much about other things. He never really stopped pooping in the house. It wasn’t a daily occurance, but it was a weekly one! He dug the back yard full of holes, but I realize, that is probably just what beagles do. We lived in military housing and our yard had to pass weekly inspection, though, so “full of holes” wasn’t the best thing! He whined and barked A LOT, anytime anyone or anything passed by, and lots of things passed by! :oO !! I loved him, but he was driving me crazy. We placed an ad, told the absolute truth about him, and a retired couple came along who loved him anyway, and they kept him forever. :o)

And our last dog, which we had back when we first moved to this place, was Sunny, a golden retriever mix. She was the happiest, most sunny-spirited dog! She lived outside, where we had a big doghouse and a good-sized fenced yard for her. But anytime any of us went out, we let Sunny out of her yard so she could be with us. She also ran free on our land and in our rural community. This was twenty-some years ago and everyone let their dogs run loose. Sunny was buddies with Ralph, the beagle who lived on the farm across the road from us, and they were often together, either here or over there. She led a very happy life. Sadly, she was hit by a car and her spine was severed. She had to be put to sleep, and I held her in my arms. It was very sad for us all, and I decided to never get another dog because it was rare to find dogs as good as Sunny. She ALWAYS came running when I called her, ALWAYS.

But many years later we have Guinness. Our son Joey enlisted in the army when he was 22. He served for three years in the 82nd Airborne and got an army commendation medal for his time in Afghanistan. He had a lot of trouble when he got back from the war, and ended up being discharged “not dishonorably.” He came home an EXTREMELY volatile, angry young man. Seeming to feel a desperate need to make up for lost time, he spun a fast and fiery romance with a young woman he’d gone to school with. They moved in together, and he got Guinness, as an eight-month-old Lab.....BIG but is some ways a pup. His lady and her two little girls loved Guinness as did Joey....but Joey and his lady had huge problems between them. Ended up, Joey asked if he could move back home. He said he’d find a home for Guinness first, because he knew we didn’t want a dog.

I did not want a dog, but I knew that our son NEEDED the dog. Really, the dog was all he had. So I said, “Bring him. We’ll see if it can work out.”

At the home Joey and Becki shared, Guinness had not been a well-behaved dog at all. He chewed up everything in sight and peed and pooped on the floor. Having raised two kids, I resolved: “He will go with me wherever I go in the house, and that way he won’t have any chances to chew up things.” And, “I will make his food delicious so that he will eat it all at one go; we will walk him afterwards, and this is how we will make sure he does his pooping outside.”

These plans worked! Since Guinness came here with Joey five years ago, he has NEVER messed in the house, and he NEVER chews on anything but his own toys and bones. (He does have a lot of toys and bones! ;o) )

Over time Joey eased out of his anger and depression, and became able to get a job AND KEEP IT. It was nearly two years ago that he began working for the same school district Joe works for, and was able to move out, sharing a house with a couple of people he met at school. He wasn’t able to take Guinness and offered to find a home for him. But by then I could easily say, “No! THIS is his home!”

And in time Joey, who at first planned to get Guinness back when he could finally get a place where he could have him, decided that so much time had passed that Guinness had really become our dog, and we had become Guinness’s parents. :o)

Now Joey has a Ladylove who is absolutely delightful, and they are so happy together it makes me happy just seeing it. Four months ago, through working hard and saving up, they were able to get a place together. They recently got their first pet together, a cat named Toby.

I doubt that Guinness and Toby will ever meet, though I have occasionally thought about getting a cat. I think Guinness would like a cat; a cat would come to like Guinness.

But most of the time I feel pretty sure that, for us, one pet is enough! I would not want to give any of the attention I lavish on Guinness to any other critter. Much as I love him, he does wear me out! :o)