Day Forty-Nine: Dogs are Amazing

*Disclaimer*: This was meant to be posted yesterday, but I had a stomach virus and forgot. No excuses, I know. I'm a little disappointed in myself, but I did write yesterday, I just forgot to import this off my Ipod and post it. 
When I come home from work, I tend to have a general routine. I walk
in the door, pet my dogs, get changed, eat dinner, clean up, and sit  
down on the couch to write for the evening, or just check my email.  
And every night, our three-year-old shepherd/collie mix, Ellie, jumps  
up on the couch next to me, curls up in a circle, and goes to sleep.  
And it is my favorite part of the day.

I am a vey strong believer in the philosophy that dogs are 'man's best  
friend'. If I'm ever in a terrible mood, hate several things, am  
upset, or angry, one of mytwo fuzzy lumps will walk up to me and stare  
at me in such a way that all they really wan at that particular moment  
is simply to be loved. It never fails to cheer me up. I gre up with a  
dog, literally. When she died at a staggering nineteen years old, I am  
pretty sure I was in my mid-teens at the time. She was the closest  
thing I ever had to a sibling, and my perents treated her like a child  
(as they treat all their dogs). To this day, I still hear my dad say  
'Ellie! Don't hump your sister!' whenever she gets overexcited and  
latches herself to my leg. While many families mitt find this odd,  
dogs really always have been members ofmour family. Each of us spends  
some time each day bonding with our furry companions, either playing  
with them, giving them a good scratch, or (in my mom's case) brushing  
them. We don't kid around when it comes to our dogs.

It comes as no surprise then, that I already start to feel a little  
homesick when I think about moving out and being without a dog in my  
life. Until I was in 4th grade, I was blessed by the presence of a  
dog, and after that I was surrounded by at leas two, and at one point  
in time when my mother wanted to kill herself, three. So how can I  
possibly move out into a place without a dog? When I look at a place,  
I get a little twinge of happiness when I see that pets are allowed.  
Not because I can get my own four-legged fuzzy, but because I, honest  
to God, can bring my more-adventurous dog over for sleepovers. I would  
happily pay a pet deposit and pick poop up off neighbors' yards to  
have visits from one of my dogs (the other is too afraid of cars to  
enjoy herself anywhere but home. With that one, I'll need to go to her).


And one day, after I've gotten a raise and can afford vet bills and  
heartworm medicine, I'll get my own dog.  But when I lived in an  
apartment at college, I would actually miss my dogs more than my  
parents (to be fair, I could talk to my parents on the phone, so  
naturally I wouldn't miss them as much). To this day, I swear that I  
went home every weekend my freshman year of college to see my dogs.  
And honestly, assuming I budget correctly, that will  be the hardest  
part of moving out for me. Who's going to cheer me up when I'm sad? I  
guess I'll just have to turn to my boyfriend and friends for that (I'm  
kidding, really).