Growing up, I never had a large dog. I had a Pekinese named Buffy that was really my mom’s, and I had to terriers we called Mr.Chips. But large dogs were not supposed to be dogs that city people kept, these breeds were reserved for farms and people with large houses and yards. I did have a German shepherd for about a month when I lived in Morning Sun, Iowa in a house that would now fit in my front room. I got the dog when it was a puppy, never realizing that he would get so big, he would take over the kitchen. Great dog, though, just too big at the time.
My daughter bought a dog when she moved into Shields Hacienda West in Phoenix about four years ago. When she approached me about it, I told her that she would have to take care and not get anything that would tear up the house, or dig in the yard. She was responsible for getting it trained. I also expressed that her work schedule of ten hour days and a busy social schedule would not necessarily be conducive to bringing a dog into the household. I likened it to a child. She said she wanted a dog for protection and companionship and she promised she would take good care of it. All that was left was to convince her mother. Here I got myself between a rock and a hard place. Knowing full well that Mom did not want an animal in her house (we had flushed multiple goldfish); I encouraged my adult daughter to convince her mother. I should have known better. I should have taken a break there and eaten a Twix.
To make a long story short, it is better to apologize out of ignorance.
Enter Akkadian, a lonely little Doberman, AKC registered puppy from Indiana. He was sent to my daughter via his own airplane ticket about four months after he was born. Shipped in what is now his toy box, he arrived at Sky Harbor crying, but he had made many friends on the plane who thought it was their duty as flight attendants to keep him company. AK immediately took to Debi, and he became a fixture in our home. When Debi came home for a visit in November of 2006, he came with her. This once hold-me-in-the-palm-of-your-hand- puppy no was about two feet tall and had paws the size of baseball gloves! Our house in Paxton was not big enough. When he went outside, he had never seen or felt grass, and he the snow and rain he felt was totally foreign to him. It was fun to watch.
When we moved to Phoenix permanently a year ago, Akkadian and I became fast friends. He went everywhere with me and he often cried outside my door at night. I became his master; my daughter was second to me. My wife was ambivalent. She had to warm up to a dog that could stand on his hind legs and be taller than she was. But, she warmed. He became her “grand dog” and now we “dog sit” during the day and when Debi is away.
Akkadian has his own bowl here, his own bucket of toys; his bed must be brought to our house for extended stays. And believe it or not, she puts a blanket over the couch in the family room so he can sit with her and watch TV at night. She has been converted, at least to an Akkadian lover.
Grand dad, though, still gets the royal treatment. Whenever our Dobie comes home for a visit, he immediately runs to my chair. If I am not there, he runs to my room and looks in my bed. Since he loves a good game of hide and seek, I often hide in the bathroom. Once he discerns I am in there, he will lie on the floor until I appear. When he finds me, he gently takes my hand in his mouth, leads me to the couch, and then jumps up onto it next to me and stares in my face until I acknowledge him by rubbing his butt.
What a relationship. I wonder if that would work with my wife and me?
Doughnut
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