A Tail of Two Dogs

“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.”—Roger Caras.

Now, I never expected to be the proud owner of a beautiful grey, black, white, with a splash of brown husky/malamute mix, but alas, here I am today, writing about my beautiful Diamond. We went to an fairly affluent apartment complex, that cost roughly $1,500 a month for a two bedroom apartment, on a Thursday evening. We buy and sell items frequently on Facebook, so I figured this was just another typical transaction. What I didn't expect was a beautiful eighty pound dog coming my way. At first I was hesitant to accept a new dog into our household, as we live in a fairly small three bedroom house without a fence in the yard, but I was excited to have such a gorgeous dog.

Now after this giant dog comes tumbling out of this tiny apartment, I expect a rambunctious, overly excited, slob of fur, what I got? A very easy-going, well trained, command and crate trained, over-sized lap dog. This dog wants to spend all her time sitting in my lap, weather I'm on the toilet, or on the couch, she will snuggle me while I'm in bed, or lay with me while I watch television, she can be so sweet. Yet, there is another side to her. The hyper-over-active-playful dog. She will jump up onto the kitchen table, run ruts into the yard running back and forth. Tear apart rope toys, dog squeakies, anything you give her, and she won't stop until she falls over exhausted. Yet, something about her makes me happy. I don't know if it's the activeness, or the snuggling, or a mixture of both but when she's around the stress, anxiety and over all general feeling of malice isn't resent. She's like a calming blanket that wraps around me and takes me off into a serene area of solitude.

Diamond is an one-of-a-kind dog. She knows all sorts of commands like sit, stay, down, off, no, paw, other paw, bang bang (she rolls over and her tongue lolls out of her mouth, and she plays dead) and high five. Since we rescued her, we've been working on ringing a bell to go outside, and help with opening doors, which she is taking really great. We've discovered if we put her on a tie out in the back yard, she will run in a circle the entire diameter of the tie out and run lines into the yard. She loves to dig in the bushes, out back yard has become spotted with holes, and giant dog piles of poop. She also loves, and is heavily motivated by peanut butter, to the point that we can smear it on something and she will sit there, licking it off until it's completely gone.

She's two dogs in on, the calm, cuddly, and the hyper, chewer who can't sit still. I couldn't ask for more though, because she knows when I'm tired, she knows when I can play, and she also can sense when I need some calming down or cheering up. She will play, not only with me, but with the kids, and she alerts me when someone is in the yard. I couldn't ask for a more unexpected gift, that became such a blessing. Although I didn't want a dog, or anything else that I would have to take care of, I'm grateful for the opportunity to have Diamond. She's taught me a whole lot is a little bit of time, and I'm thankful that I got such an amazing dog. She truly has made my life better. So anyone out there who isn't sure if they should get that pet, do it, take a leap of faith and adopt that dog, or take in that stray cat, because one day they might change your life.