Have I Said I Love Dogs?

When I was little, we had dogs. Always had dogs. I suppose that is why we always have dogs now, too. We didn't have a lot of money. When my dad left, I was a month old. My mom chose to stay home with me and my 6 year old brother and to get on welfare. The house we lived in was through Section 8 (which I suppose is called HUD housing now? or something like that). She bred Australian Shepherds,. Only just recently did I find out that they were actually AKC registered dogs and that each puppy was papered. She was what you would call a backyard breeder, which is usually considered a bad thing. She didn't show her dogs, didn't do agility or anything (Aussies are excellent with agility!)... she just bred them for the joy of good pets. I have many fond memories of playing with the puppies.

I've been told by family that when things were bad, my mom would make sure the dogs were fed over having food for us. I don't remember. I have blocked out countless memories from my childhood. Because of that, a lot of my family disapproves of me for having pets. They feel that I'll do things like my mom did. That somehow the thought of dogs will cloud my brain and I'll be unable to do anything else. (This comes from family that aren't pet people, literally every dog they've ever owned has ran away, including a dog that was hand-nursed through a case of parvo.)

Some day Caayn and I want to open a kennel. We'll board dogs and probably offer grooming services. He would like to consider breeding whippets as well, although from everything I have been learning through whippet groups, it's not as easy as all that. It seems to require a lot of effort. It's not a matter of getting a male and female together. You have to look at bloodlines and genetics, consider the standard and type. The goal being always trying to improve the breed with the breed standard in mind. I think by the time we reach this point in our lives, I'll know enough about whippets to think about maybe taking that step. I can say that I'd be willing to think about thinking about breeding, lol. It's serious business. I'm excited about it though. Awhile back there was a lovely house for sale in Dover, PA... it was old, had a fair amount of acreage and already had kennel runs built. But we're so far from being ready to buy a home like that. That's a dream for when the kids are bigger, when we're more settled.

I've discovered that I really do like the military lifestyle. We've been here in Minot for 4 years. We have lived in 3 different homes already. This current house we moved into last November, and I'm finding myself getting the itch to move back downtown. We lived downtown when we first got here... It's hard finding a house to rent that allows dogs, much less 2 medium sized dogs and a large dog! But still...

All of this is really just a roundabout way of saying that dogs are our lives. And that makes us happy. They give us such joy, bring so much laughter. Dogs are amazing. You could learn so many things from them. And I am so glad that my children will be raised in a loving household with great dogs. I always feel so bad for kids without dogs. It seems so universal that children want, need, a dog. I've never met a child who doesn't want one. They can make anything in the world better.

**This subject was brought to mind by Patience's post: Clueless.