Doggone Dogs

Today we mourn the passing of a dear family friend - Kole's Pa Pa (Keith's dad) and Grams had to put down their long time loyal pal, Spud. It's always tough seeing an old friend go, especially one who never gets angry and is always overjoyed to see us.

Maggie, our dog, is a docile little thing that Kole can easily upset by petting her too hard (slapping her, practically) or tugging on her ears or tail. With Spud, Kole could always do as he pleased - whacking/petting him as hard as he wanted. Kole could ride Spud for a bit.

It's a tough loss, as we've had a recent spell of unfortunate dog incidents. Our little Hurricane Katrina evacuee, Maggie, is getting old and is currently deaf. She's also getting very careless about getting - and staying - out of the house. It used to not be a big deal if we went to check mail, or came home with groceries, and left a door open for Maggie to come out with us, sniff around squat a few dozen times. If we ever accidentally came in and closed the door on Maggie, leaving her outside or in the garage, she'd immediately bark up a storm at the door and demand to get back in.

Nowadays ... not so much.

This past week, for the second time in about two months, we had a neighbor call us asking "is your dog accounted for?" - and she wasn't. It sucks that we have a 2-and-1/2 year old and a nearly-5-month old distracting us, but it's easy to lose track of Maggie, especially since she's so darn lazy and just lays around and sleeps or rests or relaxes around the clock. Everyone thinks they have a lazy dog, but Maggie is the Queen Princess of never making a peep all day and literally laying in one spot ALL DAY, or until Kole bugs the crap out of her and she has to get away.

Last week, Kathy was out on other dinner plans, leaving me at home with the little ones. I was eating with Kole at the dining room table and Karissa was in her Jumperoo when the call came. Our neighbor had called Kathy's cell - and Kathy texted me "is Maggie in the house?" Right as I realize she's not, the neighbor calls me and I beg her to go out and help look for her. I quickly did the math and realized that she had to have been out for at least 40 minutes, since Kathy last left. What was worse - this was one of those nights when a huge cold front was expected to blow through around 10:00 at night. We NEEDED to get that dog in the house, and time was of the essence. The last time Maggie was out, Kathy got out in her car to do a neighborhood search while I kept the little ones. Luckily, it was a short search.

Maggie benefits from Kole's mockery of parenthood

But now ... I'm solo, and my car only has a car seat for Kole. Kathy has the 2-car-seat car. WHAT THE? So what did I do? What any responsible parent of a dog would do ... or what Britney Spears would do. In socks, sweats and a t-shirt, I threw Kole into the front seat and held Karissa in my lap. This was not the time to spend 5 minutes figuring out what to do with everyone. And above all, I knew that I would never leave our neighborhood streets and never get the car much over 5 mph. I mean, I was trying to scan the area for a dog. With this 3-second justification, Kole made his debut riding shotgun and Karissa rode on my left knee as I held her then steered with the right. I had the window cracked open, but the storm was on it's way and the wind was picking up. Temp was about 45 degrees outside. Not frigid, but not warm. I took an entire trip around our block when I ran into the husband of our neighbor that called, he was out being walked by his Great Dane, Titan, joining in the search. Since I was going so slow, one trip around the block took nearly 5 minutes. Finally, about to take my second trip around, this little white dog darts across my path.

"MAGGIE!!" I scream out the window, just 20 feet from her. She keeps walking, and actually steps it up a notch. Shit - she's deaf, and now she doesn't know it's me and is scared. So again I ask the question - What am I supposed to do? I had few options at the time. I was going to hand Karissa over to Kole, but that seemed like a bad idea since I wasn't sure how long of a chase I would be in for. So, I threw open the door, tucked Karissa under my left arm like a football and started running for Maggie. Thank God Karissa is past 4 months and can now hold her head up. I looked down for a second and noticed her head bobbing, but she wasn't unhappy. The wind was cold and there I was in sweats and socks and a t-shirt running across the street and into someone's front yard. Maggie noticed me running after her and it's like she just gave up, as if she was sure to die. She just hit the deck and put her paws up. I grabbed her and picked her up, and it's like she picked up my scent and knew who I was and immediately started wheezing in relief. Where was a camera when I needed one - my Father of the Year nomination, hobbling through a stranger's yard in socks and a t-shirt when it's 45-degrees in the dark of night with an infant tucked under one arm and a dog under the other. I got back to the car and, thankfully, Kole hadn't moved an inch and seemed fascinated by his view of the show. I threw Maggie on his lap and he squealed with excitement. I put Karissa back on my lap, as she again seemed completely unaffected by anything. We got home, I shut the garage door, we all went in - Maggie darting immediately for her water bowl - and I warmed up Kole and Karissa before calling Kathy with the good news.

Some times a day goes by and it frustrates me if something memorable doesn't happen. Something that I'll remember and tell the kids about later in life, or that they may remember. And then there's events like that - out of nowhere - that I'll never, ever, even possibly forget.