The first time, ever I saw your face...

[najacheese]

When we first got Buddy-Blue, I thought it was the worst mistake we'd ever made. Both of us had been wanting a puppy but we were too poor to buy one of a kind that wouldn't kill Spensaur when he breathed near it (hence when my cats live in Texas without me). So we adopted one from a rescue and within the first 2 hours of owning him, he had bit me really hard and peed on the carpet (the rescue didn't know he had a bladder infection). And his head looked too big, like a pit bull's. He picked fights with much bigger dogs and decided one day after playing with them for a month that he hated little white dogs. I was pretty upset as I knew early on he was the little black fuzzy Satan.

I can't tell you when it began to change. Maybe when he started being able to do tricks I'd taught him, or the way he "sat" like a human being next to me on the couch (on his butt with all four legs out in front of him, leaning against my side). And then he started "talking" more than barking, he has this little "rowr roo roo roo!" that he does when he's excited to have us home. But now that I'm packing up his stuff (his bowls, his crate, his stuffed elephant squeaker toy) to take him to the pet-sitter I feel incredibly sad he can't come with us. Heaven help me, I'm pre-homesick for my obnoxious dog.

...

Anyway, off to my parents' place in New Mexico.