About 5 years ago, The Boy had a friend that worked in a pet shop. I would go there to buy seed for the Conure, and always looked around at the other stuff they had for sale- rabbits (allergic), birds, rodents, snakes, lizards, and puppies. I do not agree with pet shops selling dogs. They tend to come from very bad puppy mills. Well, this shop had an adorable Springer Spaniel. He was already 9 months old. I would ask the friend of The Boy if I could go in the dog area and let him out of his cage so he could have some loving. The poor baby was so starved for attention, he would climb up one side of me and down the other, wagging his whole body and falling over from excitement. I would ask about him all the time, and found myself going to see him almost every day. While visiting one day, another employee told me he had never been outside. Seriously? He was 9 months old! He had never walked on grass! I went home to get my checkbook, and told The Husband I was freeing him from the pet shop. He said no way, no more dogs. We already had 2 Chesapeake Bay Retrievers at home, and the older one was suffering from intestinal cancer. Through our job, we had Nextel phones with the push to talk feature. As I was walking out of the dog room, The Husband’s voice was coming over the 2-way. He kept saying “step away from the dog”. lol
Well, I brought The Springer home. He was totally freaked out by the grass, and almost fell over looking up at the sky when a plane flew overhead. It took about 2 minutes for The Husband to fall in love, and the two of them were inseparable from that moment on. Fast forward 4 years, and The Husband gets very sick, very unexpectedly. The Springer cannot understand where his Daddy is. I come home every day from the hospital smelling to him like sickness and The Daddy. The dog stopped eating. He would sit in The Daddy’s chair and whimper and moan. We had to feed him his food one piece at a time. It was very sad to see the dog suffer so badly. After The Husband died, The Springer stayed depressed for a long time. I was ready to take him to the vet for Valium, or an antidepressant. He slowly started coming around, and finally got back to being his normal (well, normal for him) self.
Now, fast forward to almost a year after The Husband passed away. I have been on a couple of dates, and have had people over for coffee afterward. The Springer likes these men, but they do not particularly like dogs. The Springer senses this, and goes upstairs and ignores them. I cannot tolerate people that do not love my animals. They are a big part of my life. If you like me, you must like my animals. So when I first bring home The BF, he is all over the animals like white on rice. He talks to them. He pets them. He plays with them. They are in heaven, and I am happy to see this. Every time I come home from The BF’s house, The Springer is almost swooning when he sniffs me.
On Thursday night, The BF stays over because he is taking me for my procedure very early in the morning. When he pulls in the driveway and gets out of his car, The Springer pushes out the front door and jumps into his arms. There was a lot of mutual kissing between them. The new Chessie gets in on the act. Everyone is happy. After dinner, The Springer decides that he is going to show The BF that he is a real dog. He grabs a toy, and runs around with it. He tosses it in the air. He squeaks the squeaker. He plays keep away with the puppy. This is not my dog. He has never done this before. lol I can’t remember when he was ever this happy. I am happy, too. We all go to bed, and The Springer lies at the foot of the bed, on The BF’s feet, just like when he slept with The Daddy. The BF doesn’t mind. The Springer is happy. I am happy. All I can think is, the BF better not break this dog’s heart, or I will have to kill him. lol
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