Ode to Allie

I was never much of a dog person... They smelled, they slobbered, they sniffed, they jumped, they shed hair, they rubbed their wet noses on me... They were just all-around disgusting creatures, and their many bad features outweighed their good features. Which were very few.

Then I met Allie...

And I discovered that I might just be a dog person. She's is such a sweetheart... She wears her emotions on her sleeve (common ground between the two of us). Every time I go to the basement to work out, she excitedly accompanies me... every time. When I cook or when we eat as a family, she sits nearby with a one-track-mind request for a tasty morsel. When she gets upset, she sneezes. When through a window she spots (or thinks she spots) a vermin who has had the audacity to venture onto our property, she barks and growls and runs ferociously from window to door to window, fervently whining to be let out. She's scared of the vacuum cleaner; when I use it, she cowers under the kitchen table. When Jeff comes home from work, she approaches and sits before him, nervous and shaking, waiting for his approving pat on her head and shake of her paw before she returns to napping. When she is trying to soften our hearts, she awkwardly proffers her paw, asking for a handshake (it works every time... with me, anyway). When she feels the need for attention (which is often), she'll rest her head on my lap, contentedly sighing, or nuzzle her head under my hand until she gets the rubs she wants.

She even watches TV with us. Here she is thinking about cashing in her gold...
And when something especially catches her interest, she'll stand up. (When there's any kind of animal on, she'll run around in circles and growl at the TV...)
Sometimes she sleeps on her back with her legs sprawled out...
And she looks ridiculously scrawny when she gets her hair cut!
Now, don't get me wrong... Sometimes she does things that make me want to throw her off the back deck! But honestly, it's so nice to have a ever-loving and lovable companion around the house. She's just an all-around special dog, and she brings a lot of joy to my day... an unexpected blessing in my life. :)