Those Crazy Aussie Dog People: Part II

The star of today’s show is Sir Dylan.  You may remember his rump from yesterday’s post (that’s usually the part dogs meet first, right?). Today, here is his handsome mug for your viewing pleasure:

Dylan enjoys peanut butter, long walks anywhere on a leash, cuddling, barking at squirrels, Mommy and Daddy time, and his best friend Green.

Ignore the date- the camera lies.

The day we bought Dylan changed the course of the rest of my life.  Due to health issues in his original people family, Dylan had been “returned” to a breeder (Heavensent Aussies) in connection with the Buckingham Ranch, where he was born.  By this time he was alomst 1 1/2 and was a discount dog because of all this.  We arranged to look at a litter of puppies, but had been informed he would be there too.  I don’t remember even looking at those puppies once we arrived.  We met Dylan, took care of the financials and paperwork, and were on our way with our new dog.

It all happened so fast.  As we walked our new dog to the car, I remember freaking out a bit.  After all, with dog ownership comes great responsibility.  I could only guess this was the feeling new parents get when taking home their baby for the first time. Now I know you are shaking your head at this if you are a parent- probably laughing too- but it’s the closest thing I know.

I wanted Robert to have a dog and I was going along with it.  I knew little about taking care of a dog and was terrified.  I had been a cat person because they were easy.  Food. Litter box. Clean litter box. Done.  A dog would demand my time and attention, which I had little of as a first year teacher.  As I watched Dylan leap excitedly and unquestioningly into the back seat of the car, I was panicked.  He seemed ok with the whole thing, but I wasn’t sure I was…and I had to sit in the back seat with him in order to keep him from climbing up on us in the front seat.

We had purchased a crate, which Dylan was to sleep in at night and stay in when we went to work.  The crate was in the living room and our bedroom was far down at the end of the hallway, around a corner even.  Still, we could hear him crying all night long. Determined for Dylan to get used to sleeping in that crate, Robert even spent the first night sleeping next to him on the floor.  After that we tried earplugs at night because Robert couldn’t sleep on the tile floor every night.  A month or so of this must have gone by before I realized it made more sense for Dylan to be free to roam at night since Robert tended to be gone at least a few nights each week.  After all, dogs are protectors, but he couldn’t protect me while locked in a crate.  That was phase one for Dylan getting his way.

Phase two came one day when I wasn’t feeling well.  I had a mind-numbing, vomit-inducing headache, so I went to bed to nap in the darkness.  After a while, Robert realized Dylan was not with him. As he approached the bedroom, there was Dylan, curled up right next to me…on the bed!  After that, the rules about not getting on the furniture no longer existed.  He won us over with love and devotion.  Once we also had MJ we had to upgrade from a double to a king.  Heck, there were cold nights when even the cat slept on the bed with all of us, and she hates the dogs.

Dylan’s protective and loving nature helped us form a quick bond, and learning how to care for him became easy.  Love has a way of working itself out.  Even as I type this, Dylan’s head is resting on my foot while he sleeps, ears twitching and all.  It’s hard to remember that time over five years ago when I couldn’t imagine bonding with this guy, because now I cannot imagine NOT having this love.