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Writer's picturelenleatherwood

Flash Essay: Us and the Dogs, Who Owns Who?

The dogs are barking. Why? Probably someone is walking down the street, or else William has meowed, sending two sets of canine ears on high alert.

Sammie, our little foster dog, has shifted from half-dead to full of life. She is leading the charge this evening, protecting us from the dangers of the neighborhood. Tail up, bark deep, racing around with Cordie, the corgi, in hot pursuit. Has it come to this, a whole blog about my dogs?

The truth is that Ray and I are turning into those people who talk too much about their pets. You know the ones…the people who pull out pictures to show you just how adorable little Mittens is. Well, hmmm…I could go get my phone and throw in a picture here…


Two night ago we had both dogs up on the bed with us. Ray, who for as long as I can remember has had a cardinal rule about no pets on the bed, got up at midnight and took Sammie out of her kennel so she could join us. “I don’t want her to feel left out since we let Cordie on the bed,” was his explanation.

Left out? She might be glad for a little private time…

But on the bed she went and then after 45 minutes of wrestling – the dogs, I mean – I decided that Sammie had had plenty of togetherness. Last night, she settled down at the end of the bed almost the second Ray put her down, and she slept there all night. What can I say…yes….it’s sad we’re this fixated.

We drove to Ojai today and, of course, the dogs went with us. We refer to them as “the girls” most of the time and admittedly, they may play a small role in replacing the three girls that have taken up most of our adult life. But these two are slightly lower maintenance, primarily because we don’t think they’ll be driving a car anytime soon or needing help with their homework. Though as far as dogs go they are quite advanced.

Now both are stretched out at my feet, exhausted from all that barking. I will be gathering them up in a minute to head up to bed. And I do mean literally “gathering up” since I have to pick up Sammie and carry her upstairs. Cordi will happily follow since she resolved on Day One of her dog-sister’s arrival that the little one would never be out of her sight. And she hasn’t been.

So, on that note, I am heading upstairs, dogs in tow.

And, yes, the girls will be snuggling with us up on the bed, just in case you’re wondering.  That is, unless wrestling ensues.

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