A pack lives in my house right now. Not just a small gathering of furry creatures. A pack. Children come and go but their pets stay forever.
My fault, I know it. No excuses from me. And these gypsy children of mine do claim (most) of their pets when their living situations permit. Otherwise, it's granny-day-care for them. Even my sister-in-law, moving across country into military housing, has taken advantage of the service- I now have a Shih-Tzu.
When my children were much younger we always had a dog. Then two. Then a manic episode from my husband... and we had three, four and almost five. But I realized recently that none of them then, and none of them now, are dogs of my own choosing.
Then the children were grown and my ex-and I became, well, ex's. I took the Huskie that no one wanted. Her name was Tasha. She had always been the family dog but when she and I started a new life together, we fell in love. We moved to the beach and walked at the ocean's edge twice a day. She nudged her doggie bed against mine so she could sleep as close to me as she could get without having to haul her arthritic bones up onto the bed. She became deaf and we developed our own sign language. We were sympatico.
I look at the pack gathered around me right now: Boykin Spaniel (hubbie's), Kai (belongs to my son in Costa Rica), Shih Tzu (sister in law's left overs), Gordon Setter (manic rescue belonging to my daughter), Mini Schnauzer (daughter's rescue) and Tortoise-shell cat (again, daughter...). And Fred, the shrimp, living in a biosphere on my kitchen table, but he was a birthday present from my pet-loving daughter.
I still don't have a dog that's mine.
I take care of them. I feed them and cut their matted hair. I give them treats and take them to the vet for shots. I buy them doggie beds and doggie Christmas stockings. But I don't feel they are mine.
Soon my children will be really and truly on their own and will come to re-claim their pets. The Boykin is nearing 12 years old- aged for a Boykin Spaniel and I shudder to think what will happen if my husband has to take him to that last vet's appointment.
When all the pets are gone, will I feel the urge to get a dog of my own? Have I become super-saturated with pets and rejoice when every fur-shedding, doggie-smelling, expensive 4 legged creature disappears?
Or will I fall in love with Cali, the Tibetan goddess of destruction, also known as my sister-in-law's Shih Tzu?
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How does someone choose an animal of their own? We have two cats. One was rescued as a kitten and pressed on us because the poor little thing had "no where else" to go. Our other cat we got an animal shelter where we had gone to get an cat we had gone to collect an cat we had seen on line. The cat we had chosen had already been adopted and our present kitty made a play for our affections so dramatically that we couldn't say "no."
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