In the Mood for Love

Our dog, Nipper, turned 11 years old last September (at least by our best guess on the month). She's been with us since she was 7 weeks old but they didn't give us a birth date.

She is the only animal in our household who is still in possession of her God-given gifts, if you know what I mean. While Rocky and Pepper have been surgically altered, she never was. When we got her, we did not realize what having an unaltered female dog entailed. Even if we had, we probably didn't have the money to get it taken care of. Within the first year of her life, we began moving regularly and I gave birth to the dude, so finding a good vet who could have done it was low on the priority list. In fact, we moved so much, I have a picture from those years, of a toddler Chick and Nipper passed out together on the couch on one moving day. It was the only piece of furniture remaining in our apartment that day.

Now that things are stable both in our geography and our finances, her age is the hold up. They won't do that unless it is necessary after a certain age. So, we (and she) just deal twice a year.

Guess what time of year it is right now.

The funny thing is that the Dude has been the smallest one in the house since she... ahem... "came of age." Initially, he was even smaller than she. So she has always found him to be her 'bestest friend' around those times of year. Even though he is aware of the facts of life, he hasn't yet connected it to her behavior. And we don't have the heart to help him make the connection.

He is very flattered by her sudden sole interest in being with him. She crawls into his lap when we're watching tv. She sleeps on his bed at night. She follows him around like a... well... puppy dog. She is constantly asking for attention from him. And he pats her head and talks to her and comments on how affectionate she is toward him.

Even since getting Rocky, she still goes to the Dude. She's tried to convince Rocky a couple of times but he either tries to play (which she gets disgusted with) or looks at her blankly and walks away.

So the Dude is still the only one for her. At least twice a year. Hubby wondered the other night if he'll be grossed out one day far into the future when he figures it out. Probably not. He'll probably find the humor in it.

Probably.