We have had two dogs in our married life. We’ve actually had a lot of pets, everything from mice, a hamster, rats, and guinea pigs. The rats are fun because they are super smart. But each animal has it’s own very distinct personality. I think the larger animals are more fun, they are more like children, and tend to become more a part of the family.

Our first dog was a great dane. My husband found a breeder that had too many puppies and were giving the dogs away for free (or for $50 you could get the papers… but we didn’t really care about the papers). Towser was 6 months old when we got him. He had always lived outside, but we kept him inside, and we only had 2 or 3 toilet issues with him before he learned to go outside every time. He was a very smart dog. His name is a funny story. Zak and I both like to read, and we had both read a series of books called Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. In the books, there is a really old jester whose name is Towser. The jester is a quirky personality, and an oddity through the book. The funniest part about him, is that he knows so much information, but doesn’t really tell stories. He’ll just hear people talking about things around him, then pipe up with the important information. He’s very nonchalant about it too. Anyway, at one point in the book, one of the stories he tells, is how his name wasn’t really Towser. The King’s dog was named Towser, and the King insulted him and compared him to the dog. So he decided to embrace it and take on the dogs name. We thought that would be a great name for our great dane… but if we had known his personality at the time, I believe we would have called him Eeyore.

Towser was a member of the family. If we ever did anything that made him feel that he wasn’t a part of the family, then he would sulk. There is nothing more depressing than watching a great dane walk around hanging his head down all sad. Anytime we were away from home, whether gone for the day, or gone for a week… he would stop eating. He never ate anything when we were gone. We had to stop boarding him and had to pay someone to dog sit so that he would eat. He was a huge lap dog, but he insisted on laying on us as much as possible. He was also terrified of loud noises and thunderstorms. Anytime there was a thunderstorm, he would jump onto our bed, squeeze in between us, and refuse to get off. It is really hard to get a 100 pound dog to move when he doesn’t want to. He would lay on Pete’s bed or the couch, when no one was at home. At first it annoyed me, but he had short hair and he never tore up the furniture, so we let him be.

One time when he was still pretty young, we let him out to go potty. We would just let him out and most of the time he stayed in our yard and didn’t go far. But this time, he tried to cross the road and got hit by a car. He didn’t get hit, so much as he crouched and his color got caught on the truck and he was drug under it. Thankfully the driver stopped quickly and Towser took off. He wouldn’t let us touch him, but we put him on the porch and put his food and water out for him. The next morning he allowed us to get close to him and we were able to get him into the car and off to the vet. One large skin graft later, we had a really disgusting zombie dog. We had to wash and medicate the area several times a day, and every time we washed it, dead skin would come off. Not like dead skin flakes, but actual chunks of dead skin. By far one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever done, but we loved him and we took care of him. The skin did heal, but he always had a bald spot on his one hip after that. We were amazed at his recovery and thought we would have him forever.

As he got older, we thought about getting a second dog… to keep him company when he was home alone. We found Chief. His owner kicked him and threw him off the porch and just treated him horribly. One weekend, he went away, and his mom stepped in and started searching for a new home for him. She found us, and we loved him. She told her son that Chief had run away. We gratefully took in this incredibly loving German shepherd. He has always been a very lovey guy. He is not overly fond of other animals, and we try to keep a close watch on him because he turns nasty around other dogs sometimes… but he was pretty good with Towser. They got along really well and played together a lot. We had to feed them separately, but as long as food wasn’t involved, they were the best of friends. It is hilarious to watch a great dane at one end of a pull toy, and a German shepherd at the other end. They would spin and play and toss each other around.

As Towser got older, he had a hard time getting around. His feet just kept slipping out from under him. We invested in some dog shoes and rugs. The shoes were interesting to put on him, but the combination of the two things helped him get around the house without falling down or slipping too much. We knew we didn’t have a lot of time left with him, when he started having trouble getting up the stairs. We helped him every way that we could… but one day we had to take him to the vet and they told us that his liver was failing. Rather than watch him starve, we put him to sleep. It was very hard, and poor Chief was sad and mopey for weeks.

It took him some time, but he finally perked up and became out lovey sweetie dog again. Just as Towser had an interesting name with a story behind it, we wanted the same kind of thing for Chief. We never really called him Chief. We decided that a clean break from the old life would be good for him. One of our favorite movies is Multiplicity. In it, the main characters makes copies of himself, and one day his copies decide to make a copy. And they talk about how when you make a copy of a copy it’s never quite as sharp as the original… well he was “special”. And in the movie, Three calls the original “Steve” which is funny because his name is actually “Doug”. Being the funny people that we are, we decided to name our dog Doug, but call him Steve. I know, completely stupid… welcome to my life.

Anyway, Steve is a character. He is daddy’s boy first, then my boy, then Pete’s boy. If Zak is home, Steve will shadow him and follow him so closely that he frequently bumps into him. If Zak is not home, then Steve is my shadow. Steve has this interesting quirk, that sometimes he likes to lead. But he wants to go where you are going. What you end up with, is him basically following from the front. Which means, he is constantly turning around stopping to make sure that he’s going the right way. I cannot tell you how many phone calls I have missed, because I just can’t get to the phone!!

After Towser died, Steve really struggled with play time. He didn’t know what to do with himself. He wanted to play, but he had always played with Towser. We tried buying him toys, but he just chews them until they become tiny pieces of shrapnel to step on. But what we discovered, were three kinds of things that he loved. The first is a large, thick, knotted rope. He still chews it, but not incessantly, and his first rope lasted 3 years… so that’s pretty good. He will toss that around and pounce on it, and growl at it, and then he’ll lay down and chew and lick it. It is hilarious to watch. The second thing, is tennis balls. Tennis balls are thankfully cheap, because he will chews these. But he loves to play fetch with tennis balls. You throw them, he runs and gets them, he chews and licks them, then he brings them back to you all nice and soggy. It is a great game, until it just becomes too disgusting, or until the ball rolls under something where he can’t reach it. The third thing is the big hoot. He loves the laser. He doesn’t care if it’s the red laser or the green laser, or even how big the spot is… he just loves chasing the laser. He will paw at it, pounce on it, bump his nose against it, and cry if he can’t reach it. I have never seen a dog that big, pounce the way he does. He will play and play with the laser. We have allowed him to play for up to half an hour, but he is panting so hard and just won’t stop. The bad thing about the laser is that once he’s seen the laser, he is completely preoccupied with it. He can’t focus on anything else.He  won’t listen to commands, he won’t even accept a treat, he is totally and completely engaged in the laser. He must have some control though, because he won’t touch the spot if it’s on or close to a person. It’s just a funny thing.

Another quirk of Steve, is how he reacts when we tickle Pete.  For the first year or two, every time we would tickle Pete, Steve would try to nip at Pete!  I’m not sure if he was trying to join the fun or what he was thinking, but we were constantly holding him away and scolding him.  Well eventually he stopped nipping, but it must be stressful for him, because now he paws at the floor, near where Pete is being tickled.  I assume that it is stress relief for him, or a way that he created to control himself, but it is just odd.  Thankfully he doesn’t paw hard enough to wear through the carpet, but I’m sure it’s probably not good for it.  Luckily it is just a rug, and luckily it’s pretty old, so I’m not terribly worried about it.  It’s just odd; and it’s just one more quirk of Steve’s personality.

I don’t know how long we will get to have Steve with us, but I think when he is gone we are going to go the small dog route. Zak has decided that he would like a dog that he can put in his pocket. I’m not sure how practical that is, but it sounds like a plan. Towser was too large and got too car sick to go on trips, and Steve is so large and fidgety, and he cries if he’s in the car for too long. It would be nice to have a smaller dog that we could take with us. But that will hopefully be many years from now. There are some days when I wonder why we have a dog, it is such a pain to let him out and feed him, but then we sit down to watch tv and he comes in and lays on his back with his legs in the air, with his rope in his mouth, and he is so cute. He is a huge walking blanket, that sheds like crazy, and he is my sweetie.