December Dedications

I have been inspired by my rotten friend, Jacob, (hey, if I'm mean, that's what he's gettin') to write about those who I care about the most and am thinking I will devote random posts in December to this. I won't be writing the sappy posts every day, because then anyone who reads this blog would probably stop reading it! But to start off my December Dedications, I'll be writing about someone who is truly near and dear to my heart: Sadie (for those of you who don't know, that's my dog).

Some of my readers, or perhaps all, are probably thinking that I am a little obsessed with my dog. Well, I am, but maybe after you read this, you'll understand why.

Growing up (It all goes back to childhood, doesn't it? I swear, I'm like a psychologist's dream...), I was the youngest in a family of four kids (well, technically there were five but the oldest died before I was even born). Anyhoo, most of my siblings were quite a bit older than me and doing the teenager things once I was old enough to want someone to play with. With my dad being a huge animal-lover, we always had a dog. My "little sister" growing up was our dog, Sassy. She was a mid-size, German Shepherd mix who was as sweet as can be with a little twist of attitude. We had that dog for 12 years, and the day I got the call that she had passed, it was my first semester at college. I crawled in my closet and cried so hard (my roommates weren't really dog people and didn't understand, so I hid).

Six years later, Chris and I finally got a house, which for me meant that we could finally get a dog. It had been long enough without one! I don't think I could have gotten another right away, but it was finally time. So, not even two weeks after signing the papers for the house, we were at the pound. (keep in mind Chris had never had a dog as a pet and was nervous about the whole thing) The animal shelter in Rome has two pretty long aisles with about 10 to 12 cages on one side filled with dogs. We went down the first aisle and saw some nice looking dogs (of course, I'd adopt them all if I could) but no puppies. It's my experience to get a dog when they are a puppy and "raise" them the way you would like, but I would try it with an adult dog. Anyway, we then made our way down the second aisle and I was starting to get a little disappointed. We then got to the last cage, which was full of puppies, all cute and adorable, but one stood out among the rest. It was like she knew she had to make herself noticeable. There she was, climbing on top of every other puppy and poking her short muzzle through the fence. Her face looked just like my childhood friend and I instantly fell in love.

Even with her horrible smell and the hole in her side (The morons at the pound had put her with a full-grown German Shepherd, which bit her. So she had a hole the size of a tooth in her side.), we took her home. According to the vet, she was about five months old, so not long after bringing her home and having the infection drained out of her side, she was on the vet table again to be spayed. The poor thing has also had a puppy cold and was once stung by a bee in the face, which swelled up like a balloon (kind of funny, but I was a little worried!). She has seemingly been thankful we took her out of that pound every since that first day.

Sadie is about to turn three in January (we think anyway!). This dog is so smart and so well-behaved. It only took us about two months, if that, to completely train her to not pee or poop in the house. She now has free reign of the entire house and has a "bladder of steel," as Chris calls it. She has gone more than 12 hours at the house without peeing or pooping until we got home to take her outside. She's great with kids, too. Anytime the nieces or nephews come over and are picking and prodding at her, she just takes it. She sleeps on the couch but knows that she really shouldn't get up there unless there's a blanket. We also take her for walks a lot, either around the block, at the lake in our neighborhood or at one of the local parks. She rarely ever gets put on the leash. She just stays with us! It's awesome!



Just last night, however, Chris and I were discussing her vocabulary. Now, I know people who think that dogs don't know words, and frankly, they are morons. I even interviewed about four blind people in Rome shortly before my exit out of the Rome News-Tribune who said that their seeing-eye dogs know about 35 to 40 commands. These aren't the usual commands either. These are full sentences like, "Find the church. Find the elevator. Take me home, etc." Sadie isn't quite at this status, but here are some of the commands, words and phrases she knows:

obviously, she knows her name
sit
lie down (yes, we use correct grammar with our dog)
shake
high five
easy (this is when I'm putting a treat on her nose. She tosses it up and catches it. She's a freakin' genius!)
treat
stay (she's still working on this one a bit)
heel (this one too)
come
walk (this single word will evoke massive jumping, licking and wagging!)
go
eat
water
pee
poop (yeah, she knows the difference)
cuddle



bed time
that's not for you (usually said when we have food)
Lexi (her best friend in the dog world)



kisses (not that she ever needs this command)
no
good girl/bad girl (although I think this one has more to do with the tone)
bath (if I say this and grab her shampoo and a towel, she goes into the bathroom and sits next to the tub)
bone
swimming (although we haven't done this one in a while)



There's possibly more, but I can't think of anything else right now. But on top of all her doggy knowledge and good behavior, she's really a sweetheart. She's SO happy when Chris or I come home and even when we just walk into a room. She's a lick-a-holic (possibly her only downfall - other than how she reacts to getting her nails cut). I know that she will most likely die way before I do, and I just try not to think about it. Anytime you come over to the our house, you will be greeted warmly by Sadie. She helps make our little family what it is!.