Rant #1,428: Pet Sounds

I had a good birthday celebration.

Work was pretty much pain free, and then later at home, we had a cake, some presents, and I got to see my daughter.

Everything was hunky dory, and then the Yankees won, which always makes my birthday a good one.

Otherwise, very low key, which is good.

Now, on to the next thing.

My family hasn't had a dog in the house for about five years or so.

We first had Mikey, when my wife and I were married, and he was a miserable dog, with a miserable disposition. He was my wife's dog when she was single, he came with us, and like people, dogs can have attitudes, and this dog had one, for sure.

When he died, it took us some time, but we brought Max into our home.

Max was sort of the runt of the litter at he animal shelter that we adopted him from, and he lived up to that name during the 14 years we had him.

He was a real mix, a pit bull and a cocker spaniel, I believe, but his demeanor was so mild. He loved to bark, but this dog was afraid of his own shadow.

He was a good dog, and when we had to put him down, it was very, very difficult, but we hated to see him suffer.

My wife is the real dog person in our home--my son and I really could care less--but I do believe that the time has come to not replace Max, but to bring another dog into our home.

There are some problems with doing that.

Since my wife and I work all day, we are never home. We hope that our son begins working sometime soon, so there will not be anybody home during the bulk of the day.

He--and yes, we only want a male dog--will be a real house dog, just like Max and Mikey were, and that could be a problem for some dogs, until they get used to it, not having anyone around.

But when we are home, he will invariably be the center of attention because he will need us to be, and as a comforting presence after a rough day at work, he will fit right in.

Look, I absolutely hate to walk the dog, but the burden will fall on me, because I wake up first and I am also the last one home after work. So I will have to walk him three to four times each day, and I have to say that that is the worst part of this deal.

But I think the time has come.

My wife grew up in a home with dogs, she had them for the first 18 or so years of marriage, and she misses the companionship of a canine in the home.

We will talk about this again later in the year, when our vacation is over, but I think that the next time we bring this up, we will have another presence in our home, a nice mutt to come home to each and every day.

I don't like to admit it, but I kind of miss having a dog in the house. Max was a great dog, and I swear that I have had recent dreams where I dreamed about him. It was almost as if his presence was in our house during sleep time, kind of telling me that he was OK, and that yes, it is time for his successor.

Call me nuts, but I think those dreams were an omen.

I think a dog is in our future.