Tag Archives: companions

Peace reigns – for the moment

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2015_October_cuddleBudsI (Hope) posted this picture on facebook – just to show my boys being incredibly cute yesterday evening. Torque (the dark brindle boy) is younger and absolutely adores Teddy (the fawn boy). He’ll often go to where Teddy is relaxing and lie down next to him, or on top of him, if he can get away with it. Teddy rarely seeks out one of the other dogs to cuddle, but doesn’t object when they find him.

Anyway – I had a couple of people comment that my dogs seem to get along so well, asking don’t they ever squabble? The answer is not really. Teddy, like any big brother, occasionally finds his little sibling annoying and lets him know to knock it off. He does the same with Booker, Fran’s Boston Terrier and perpetual motion machine.

In the past our dogs haven’t always gotten along as well. Many years ago we had a Boston Terrier and a Brussels Griffon, Dragon and Daemon, both boys. They would occasionally get into real battles. And, of course, the natural “mom” instinct kicks in and you reach in to separate them. Not a good idea – which we found out when a few stitches were required.

After that day the protocol in the house is: if the dogs start fighting, shriek at the top of your lungs, wave your hands over your head like a crazy person, and run in the opposite direction. Aside from keeping us safe, it’s stopped every incipient fight. The dogs just stand there wondering if we’ve lost our minds.

Our dogs’ most important job

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TorqueAs I’m sure most everybody reading this can tell – we do a lot of “stuff” with our dogs. Not normal-people stuff, like going for long walks, but obsessive-compulsive dog-people stuff, like constantly training in obedience and rally and agility. Like competing in those venues with our dogs. Like owning a dog-supply shop and bringing our dogs to work so that we can train them some more.

We may seem a little dog-obsessed, and we freely admit that we are. We love all dogs and we’ve found that people who have dogs, whether or not they share our training obsession, are among the kindest, nicest people around.

Brief tangent – before Golly Gear, our family owned a small used bookstore. You would thing that people who love books and reading would also be wonderful. And there were many who fit the description. But there were also many who didn’t and made retail life in a bookstore much less joyful than a dog-supply shop.

Yesterday I didn’t do any training with my dogs. I felt like a real slacker – but it was terrific. In the morning we took advantage of the unusually cool weather and played fetch in the backyard. And then we just hung out until it was time for me to leave for work.

When I got home I just plopped down on the couch and my eight-month-old Torque climbed up, put his paws on either side of my neck and gave me a hug. And kisses. Lots of kisses. And a couple of earlobe nips – we’re working on that.

Teddy snuggled at my side – peace reigned in the house. The most important “job” my dogs have is being my companions. And I took the time yesterday to just relax and enjoy their good work.