Are You There Dog? It's Me Janet.
March 22, 2006

I have been annoying Steve for the last month with an obsessive-compulsive dog disorder.

I have craved a second dog since Chamois died last July. Mabel has loved being the top dog, but she is getting too settled and lazy. Without a dog friend to play around with, she has decided that she is a person. The dog beds have been abandoned in favor of the couches. It seems that suddenly her head is too heavy to support without the arm of a couch under it. She disappears for long stretches in the day, and is generally upon Matt’s bed, with the pillows re-arranged so she resembles Cleopatra upon her barge. I am sure that she is waiting for me to come up and fan her with ostrich feathers, but I resist.

For months, I have zigzagged from web site to web site looking for a good breeder of Portuguese Water Dogs. I consider this breed the ultimate compromise: it is a working breed, not a sissy dog, (Steve) and it is non-shedding. They are athletic, (Matt) loyal (Mike) and the cutest shaggy dogs ever. (Janet) Like Mabel, they swim. (Mabel)

While I was in Florida, a kennel I admired announced a litter. Since that night, I have been relentless in my pursuit of a puppy. The jury is still out, but I am hopeful that Mabel will soon have a girlfriend to frolic with.

I have filled out adoption papers, sent a deposit, and am waiting to see if there is a dog to match me. These dogs are not that common, and good breeders take great precautions to place them where Portuguese Water Dogs will be well represented. Steve would spend any money to procure me a puppy, since I want one so much, but I have to take a back seat to the breeder’s goals. I do not know how many people are on the waiting list before me. I want to play fair. Like Earl, I am mindful of karma. Plus, I am old enough to be patient.

I know that part of this is the empty nest syndrome. I like to be needed. My boys may need me in concept, but in reality…not so much. My guinea pig (Matt’s) really does not need me, and I cannot say that I have bonded too much with the rodent. In fact, I cannot bear to cut his nails, and that amounts to pig neglect, I am told.

The litter is 4 weeks old now, 4 girls and 5 boys. They live in Wisconsin, and they are getting bolder and stronger. This litter has been given names that start with “F”. The biggest boy is Fats Domino. The girls are Fancy, Fergie, Fiona and Franny. You gotta love a dog breeder with that many cute F names! I am letting you peep at the girls’ 4-week pictures. Guess which one Steve likes? He says he feels disloyal to Mabel, but he smiles when he peeks at them. Guess! But do not get ahead of me in line, or I will crush you like a flea.

The girls should be ready to go home Easter weekend….but I will be in Spain, with 12 Euro-explorer girlfriends. Could Steve fetch me a new baby as a welcome home? Would he? It would fill up his temporarily empty nest. The suspense is killing me, and my obsession is killing Steve. I feel good about my dog owner odds: the breeder grew up in the town I live in, on the very street where our old house was. That seems like a sign, doesn’t it? Plus, I have a pool for the dog to swim in. And a dog for her to swim with……