Happiness is a Warm Puppy

I am the proud owner of a beautiful red bi Australian Shepherd named Hamilton. Not only is Hamilton a beautiful dog, he is very loving and the smartest dog I have ever owned. He is also the only dog I have ever met who willingly gets in the bathtub for a bath and will even jump in there just for the heck of it. It can be quite a surprise when you are taking care of business in the bathroom and all of a sudden a dog comes bounding out from behind the shower curtain.

 

Now for the downside. He sheds like crazy leaving puffy red tumbleweeds of fur all over the carpet, enjoys sticking his head is the trashcan and pulling out the Kleenex, and does not tire of dropping a slimy ball in your lap for you to throw. It is hours of family fun for him. Depsite being a herding dog, he doesn't seem to like the outdoors and pretty much ignores all forms of suburban animal life from birds to squirrels. Even the next door neighbor's dogs don't phase him. I don't know if he would even know what to do with a sheep should one be in front of him.

 

Still despite those drawbacks, I wouldn't trade him. Although people tend to anthropomorphize their animals, they are still capable of great emotion and have a sense as to when they are needed. Lately, I have been having some insomnia issues and being up at 2:00 in the morning when you desperately need to sleep is disheartening.  It does make it easier to calm down when you suddenly feel the furry weight of his head rest on your knee and you look down to see those amber eyes staring back at you. Of course it makes it more difficult to type two handed when you are constanly being urged to pet that head.

 

That night, I finally abandoned surfing the internet and went to bed. Normally, Hamilton sleeps in a crate to keep hime from wandering the house and eating Kleenex or one of my children's prized stuffed animals. That night, I closed my bedroom door and let him crawl in bed with me. Now 50 pounds of fur lying right next to you is reassuring. I fell right to sleep. However 50 pounds of fur lying right next to you also eventually feels like you are sleeping in a blast furnace and being woken up a few hours later by him trying to get into a position where you will scratch his butt for him is annoying. Still, when you feel lonely like that, it is not hard to understand why some 15,000 years ago our ancestors let these furry creatures into their caves for the first time.