by Trent Rosser
When I woke up the other morning, I was lying on the floor. I did not fall off the bed. I was not kicked out of the bed. My wife did not push me out of the bed. Hunter the dog kicked me out of the bed. When my wife and I got together we lived in a small 1 bedroom apartment with a cat and a kitten named Rascal. I will talk about Rascal another time. She said that she wanted a dog. I told her that we do not have enough room for a dog and we did not even have a yard for the dog. That was my excuse for not getting a dog. Eventually, we did move into a house. Then the "dog" issue came back up. Luckily for me, the fence was in dire need of repair. So, being the sly person I am, I told her that the fence would need to be fixed before we can get a dog. Somehow, she conned me into fixing the fence. So, she was able to get a dog. I did put in a small stipulation. It needs to be a big dog. I want a watch dog. She found a puppy on Facebook back in April. He was such a cute little thing. His father was a Husky and lab mix while his mom was a Sheppard, heeler mix. I knew it would be a big dog so we brought him home.
Sometimes when you want something, be prepared for what you get. At 9 months old, he now weighs over 100 lbs and when he stands on his hind legs he is about 5 feet tall. He is a very big dog. I did what I could with him. I tried to train him, and it stuck for a while. I had the treats and he would sit, lay down, shake, if you held one hand up, he would give you a high five, but it you kept the hand up, he would put both of his paws up and “sit pretty” as my wife would say. Now, it is a little different. You break out any kind of treat, he would do it all without saying anything to him. It is a comical watching him try to sit, shake, and lay down all at the same time. If my life was a TV show, he would be the comic relief. While he is outside, he has learned where my office window is at. You ever get the feeling you are being watched? Yeah, he loves to watch me through the window. The other morning he did something that just has to be repeated. There was an emergency at work and one of the drivers for the company was in an accident. He was ok, but it was serious enough to have the president of the company call me to get as much information as he could. While I am doing this and my wife is sitting across my desk waking up for the morning, Hunter jumped up on the window. He looks at me, he looks at my wife and then he starts to lick the window. He did not have a care in the world, just licking the window and enjoying himself. Of course I laugh a little and my wife is laughing a lot. Then he stuck his nose against the window and he lowered himself just a little. Remember when we were kids and we stuck our nose against the window and bent down to make ourselves look like a pig nose. Well, he looked like a dog with a large overbite! We both burst out laughing. I was still on the phone with the boss! Try explaining that to your superior. Then to top it off, the other night Hunter was in the house and behaving. We keep his toys in a little woven basket by the couch. I had just commented on how smart I think the dog is when he comes around the corner with the basket stuck to his head. He tried to get a toy, but the basket handle ended up over his head. With his tongue hanging out, he now looked like a dysfunctional saint Bernard, but with a basket instead of a small wine barrel.
All in all, Hunter is a good dog. He watches the house while we are gone and he loves to play. He is the only dog I know that loves to give hugs. He has stolen my wife’s heart and he provides me with a little comedy. He is now a part of the family. Even if he wears a basket around his neck and licks the windows.
