Member-only story
This Damn Dog Owes Me a Viral Article
My new writing career collides headlong with Pandemic Puppy
The lobbying for another dog started long before the Pandemic. My wife and two (adult) kids were all on board with the idea that our current dog, a 13-year-old Lab mix, was lonely, and could use some companionship. It had been several years since we were a two-dog house, and our one dog had been managing quite well in my opinion as the only-dog. They said it would be good for her to have some company, and would be fun for us to have a more active dog. I wasn’t buying it.
Don’t get me wrong — I love dogs. I grew up in a house with at least one dog at any time, often several. We live in a very rural area, perfect for dogs, and our house is not exactly full of pristine white furniture and carpeting or anything that would qualify as dog-unfriendly. But I was skeptical, because I remember just how much work a puppy was, and also the fact that (with a lot of luck) our current dog never had housetraining, barking, biting, or chewing issues. At least, not any lasting ones.
They eventually wore me down, and I bought into the puppy idea as well. We shopped around and found a reputable rescue agency in our state that adopted dogs from US southern states where there were, for a variety of reasons, a lot more stray animals that needed help. We had to be screened as adoptees. We had…