Eight is Enough
We're dog-sitting for some friends of ours over the weekend. They usually take our dog when we go on vacation , so we wanted to reciprocate.
I want you meet Bentley.
He's quite possibly the happiest, most energetic dog alive. I've never seen him slow down. It's not a bad thing, just very different from Toby, our Cairn Terrier. Toby tires after a walk and needs to lay down for a couple hours. He can wrestle with Bentley for 5 minutes, and hold his own, but then he'll lose patience with it and need a 30 minute rest. Bentley is the Energizer Bunny Dog. His heart beats at 200 bpm and his motor just revs at red line. He's like a dog on meth.
Dogs are a lot like humans that way. Some of us are wired to work hard, play hard and think about the consequences later. And then some of us are more like the get to work when we get around to it, work at our own pace and take the afternoon off type. Sad, but true. We can learn a lot from our dogs if we just watch them interact.
Right now, as I write this, Bentley is sitting next to me on the love seat, because he loves me, panting in my face. It's a little uncomfortable to be loved and needed this much by a dog. It makes me uneasy. Toby sometimes needs some love, but he can just plop and lay. Bentley needs to be told he's loved and petted, and reassured in 5 minutes that he's still loved.
I think part of it is that I can see Bentley's eyes. Toby's are hidden behind his eyebrows that twitch when he looks around. I can see Bentley's needs because I can see his eyes. He has beautiful brown eyes, so they kind of slay me in a way. He's hard to resist.
He's a mix of a Jack Russel and a dachshund I think. He can jump like a Jack and he actually reminds me of a baby deer. He's fast as all get-out at the dog park and few if any dogs can keep up with him; certainly not Toby who's built for comfort, not speed.
Anyway there's going to be a new energy around the house this weekend. We now have two adults, two kids, two cats and two dogs. At any given time, one of these eight will need something from one of us. It's a new dynamic and it's going to require a bit of patience and probably a nap or two.
Blogging off...
Comments