Doing a recent pet session with a truly amazing dog got me thinking about the differences between “dog people” and regular people. I never understood how someone could treat their dog like a person…or why they would want to. I’ve learned a lot over the past 4 years about dogs….and myself.

I grew up in Charleston, SC. For most of my childhood, we lived in an apartment which didn’t allow pets. My mom did a great job of hiding kittens so the Apartment Manager wouldn’t find out so I wasn’t always without a pet. However, I never had a dog. You can’t really hide a dog because of the whole pooping outside thing. But I loved my cats (even when they brought dead things up the door) and never thought anything about not being able to have a puppy. So as an adult, I’ve never been a dog person. I love all types of animals but owning a dog has always meant something different to me than “dog people.” I got my kids a dog and it stayed outside. I’d pet it on the head as I walked by but never thought much about it. Then 4 years ago, I moved in with my boyfriend and he is allergic to cats. We had a cat at the time…a beautiful Siamese that my son adored. But she disappeared the day we moved into the new house. I guess she wasn’t keen on the idea of living in a different house. After a year of not having any pets, I started really missing that great feeling when your pet jumps up in your lap and wants nothing from you but to be loved. So I decided to get an inside dog. I figured it can’t be much different than a cat. Boy was I wrong! We decided on an Italian Greyhound. He was gorgeous. He was sleek and could run faster than anything I’d ever seen. He was incredibly sweet. I was his human and all he wanted to do was lay beside me under a blanket. Me and this dog bonded from day one. But this dog was extremely high maintenance. I don’t mean we had to take him to the groomer every other week (he doesn’t have much fur at all). I mean all our lives revolve around this dog. I had never had a dog before. I thought all I had to do was take it out a few times a day and it would be trained. Um that’s not how it worked with this dog. He was stubborn, needy and scared of every freakin’ sound outside. He would literally shake and tremble for 30 minutes if a car drove by.  I had to use puppy pads in the house because he just refused to go to the bathroom outside. Several times I broke down and cried to Daniel about the dog. I couldn’t handle it. I already had 2 children and a man to take care of. Now I had this needy dog. I had to find another home for him or I was going to have a breakdown. He would always talk me out of it. He would say “Heather, you love that dog and he loves you. You can’t get rid of him.” Of course, that would always make me change my mind. Over the next couple of years, I just became accustomed to the extra care I had to put into my dog. That’s not to say that I liked it or didn’t have moments of pure insanity (ask Daniel) but I dealt with it.Daniel was right, I love my dog and he loved me.

Fast forward to the Fall of last year. My Stepfather passed away on November 1st. My family was devastated. He was only 54 years old. My children had lost the only male figure that had been a constant throughout their lives. Daniel was a great father to them but we had only been together 5 years at that point. My daughter wanted a puppy for Christmas. She had never had a pet because I always thought she was too young for the responsibility (I already had a crazy dog to take care of). But I thought if I got her the puppy, she wouldn’t be so sad about her Papa. So, I set out to find her a puppy. Daniel and I both agreed that the smaller the better so we  decided on a Chihuahua. Now, most of these types of dogs are really super ugly and “yippy.” We didn’t want that. I had to find one that was cute and acted more like a big dog. Good luck, right? It took some time but I found her the perfect puppy. I couldn’t wait until Christmas to give it to her so I took her with me to pick it up. It was love at first sight. She fell asleep holding the puppy on the way home. Ok, so now we have a neurotic dog and a new puppy in the house. What was I thinking?! Training the new puppy wasn’t that bad. She was litter box trained when we got her (yes, you can train a dog to go in a litter box!) so we just had to work with her a little to get her going outside. After a few months we decided to get my dog fixed being that he is a boy and the puppy was a girl (you know the birds and the bees stuff). I couldn’t believe the transformation in him. It seemed like overnight, he didn’t have a problem going to the bathroom outside, he didn’t try to crawl down my shirt when new people came over. He started becoming normal! Now I don’t know if it was because he was socializing with another dog and saw what he was supposed to act like or if it was the surgery. But whatever it was, I sure wish I would have done it sooner.

Now our new puppy isn’t quite so much a puppy anymore and my dog will be 4 next month. Life around our house has become pretty normal – or as close to normal as we’re going to get. We love our dogs and couldn’t imagine our lives without them. They are still extremely irritating sometimes especially when they both want to lay on me at the same time or when the have to go outside at 10pm. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I guess that’s why I’m a “dog person.”

My dog, Duke.

Our dog, Georgia (as a puppy).