How I Became a Dog Person

Guest Post by: Kimberly Gauthier, Through the Lens of Kimberly Gauthier

Rodrigo

I had a dog as a kid, but as an adult I’ve always had cats, no more than 2 at one time. When my boyfriend and I decided to take the plunge and go in on a mortgage, we had fun building the wish list for our dream home, which included a yard for a dog. We adopted litter mates. In no time they had stolen my heart and I found myself quickly adapting to waking up every 2 hours to stand in the rain trying to convince two puppies to “go potty for mommy.” During the first three months of puppyhood, I started to appreciate the independence of our cats. We had no idea how much our lives would change when we introduced two puppies to our home.

Here are ten things that led to my transition to a dog person:
1. Puppy breath – if you don’t know, then find a puppy, pick him up, and take a deep breath. I swear that smell was made to make us take our guard down so that we would take this wiggly, shivering creature home.

2. They are so happy to see me – I was on vacation when we brought our dogs home so I had endless time to play with them in the midst of packing to move to our dream home. The first day that I went to work, I was convinced that they’d forget me. Nope, when they heard my voice, the wiggling and tail wagging commenced and I fell in love all over again. No matter what my day is like, I always look forward to coming home to our animals.

3. When they finally get it – we trained our puppies to go to the door when they needed to go outside. Rodrigo picked up on this quickly. Sydney wasn’t convinced that she had to go outside when she could potty on the floor. When we finally saw her waiting patiently at the door it was like we won a grand prize. There was the race to go outside and lots of praise. When she realized how excited her humans got when she went potty outside, she was converted.

4. When I realize that they’re thinking – Rodrigo is a stinker sometimes. Before he misbehaves he stops and waits until he gets my attention. I swear if he could speak human, he’d tell me “I’m heading next door to play with Murphy.” And then off he goes. I have about 3 seconds to interrupt his thought process before he vanishes into the wind. It’s gotten to point where I know our dogs’ different barks, their looks, and their moods. Great for animal communication.

Sydney

5. The schnuggie – I taught my dogs “give mommy a schnuggie” and each one does this differently. Rodrigo comes over and leans into my legs for his schnuggie (a hug / tummy rub combo) and Sydney stands between my legs so that when I look down I see her butt and wagging tail. My boyfriend thinks it’s a stupid word, but I hear him asking for one when I’m not in the room.

6. Thunderstorms – the storms don’t bother Sydney, but Rodrigo gets this concerned look on his face and immediately comes and sits in my lap (he weighs 65 pounds) for a comforting schnuggie. I love it, because no matter how big he gets, he’s never too big to climb his heavy butt into my lap.

7. Sometimes they talk back – yep, I actually have conversations with my dogs. My boyfriend laughs when I explain why Rodrigo should stop taking Sydney’s chew. I swear they understand every word and Rodrigo always pipes in to hold up his end of the conversation. Sydney is more of a silent witness to our exchange. Rodrigo leaves Sydney’s chew alone (for that day).

8. Dog parks and play dates – we think it’s hilarious that we’ll make friends with people if our dogs hit it off. Play dates have become a part of our life and we meet a lot of “friends” at the dog park. Rodrigo is in heaven, running around regulating (this is the dog who’s afraid of thunder) and having fun. Sydney is not a fan of the dogs who are just too forward for her taste and sticks with me.

9. Ice cream – one of the things I most looked forward to was feeding our dogs ice cream. I buy it buy the box load during the summer (a box has 4 cups). Now there are doggy cookies and cupcakes too. Pop those things in the freezer and they’re a tasty cool treat on our hot days.

10. Praise from our veterinarian – whenever we go in for a checkup, I get a huge thrill when the doctor confirms that we’re doing a great job taking care of our dogs. Gold start for us!

So, when did you realize that you’re a dog person?

Kimberly Gauthier describes herself as a professional-amateur photographer and writes the photography blog Through the Lens of Kimberly Gauthier. . She’s a self taught photographer from Washington and enjoys sharing everything that she’s learned about photography with her readers.