Monday, December 14, 2020

BRUNO. He's a pain...but it's a good pain.

We’ve had some wonderful dogs over the last 25+ years…Layla our 1st black lab, Zoe a golden retriever, Sam a black lab and our current guy Bruno. Like all dogs, each had traits that we loved and traits that drove us crazy. Bruno is no different. 

Bruno has many loves, but his main one seems to be eating. We laugh almost daily about his timing. We’re pretty sure he has a clock in his stomach that goes off to let him know it’s feeding time and he lets ‘us’ know that the alarm has sounded. He has 2 feeding times, morning and afternoon. Usually by 4:30 in the morning, he is stirring and if Cindy or I turn over in bed around that time, he assumes we are awake and we should be happy to get up and feed him. If we don’t respond he then looks to see if one of us has an arm hanging over or near the edge of the bed, and if so, it is greeted with a cold nose and a head to be patted. We try to hold him off until 6am but some mornings it’s just easier to give in so you can go back to bed. His afternoon feeding is about 3:00, which means his clock goes off about 1:30-2:00, and he’s trailing us around the house or sitting in front of us giving us ‘the stare’ treatment until we feed him. 

After food, Bruno’s other love…is people in general. Anyone coming to the door…he assumes…has come to see him and he’s happy to race to the door to welcome them. We’ve never had anyone panic or think he’s about to eat them…I guess because he just has that look about him…and the wagging tail…that tells them he’s safe to be around. It drives Cindy crazy when he barges in front of us and is a solid 80 pounds of muscle to try to move out of the way. 

The main people he loves to love…are our two little granddaughters, especially little Ruby our 6 year old. The two of them are like peas in a pod…where there is one…there is the other. He follows Ruby everywhere and she loves playing fetch and running with him. If she’s outside in the back yard, he goes with her. If she’s on the sofa, he’s nearby keeping an eye on her. If she walks into another room, he follows her to make sure she’s okay. He has served as her foot cushion and her pillow, depending which end is closer…and he is quite satisfied with that treatment. 

When the kids aren’t here, he’s near Cindy or me. There is no TV watching that he isn’t on the sofa beside Cindy…there are no trips to the bathroom without his supervision…there are no showers when he isn’t the bathmat that you have to step over when getting out. Our master bath is pretty small, but the 3 of us fit because that’s the way he demands it. If you’re at the refrigerator getting an ice cube, be prepared to share…he loves them. He’s not a beggar for food at the dinner table, but he does lie underneath it so if anything falls to the floor, he’ll take care of it for us. He likes to carry objects into the living room for us. Each morning we’re likely to find a shoe or sock on the floor. He doesn’t tear it up, he just relocates it for us. When we leave the house we’re likely to find a bathroom towel or kitchen towel in the TV room upon our return. Not sure what he’s trying to tell us, but we get a daily message from him. 

He’s 80 pounds of pain in the butt and 80 pounds of love…he drives us crazy…he makes us laugh…and he’s a member of the family that we wouldn’t know what to do without. I’ll bet if you have a dog…or have had one…some of this sounds very familiar. Right? 




P.S. Our friend Sara has lab pups…and Cindy wants one. Now SHE’S driving me crazy too!! 

REMEMBER: 

Pay attention to how a person treats the people that they don’t have to be nice to, because that is probably who they really are.

Be talkin' to ya.
Dan

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