Space

Today's assignment: Document the space - where they are most comfortable. The leading question was: "What is their 'spot' in the house?" Honestly, all of the humans in my household gravitate toward the sofa. This is likely due to its strategic position in front of the television. :) The only family member that definitively has a "spot" is our canine, Guinness.

Let me preface this with a simple fact: I am NOT a "dog person." In fact, I spent much of my childhood doing anything I could to avoid contact with dogs. It wasn't that I was particularly "scared" of them and never had a traumatic experience with them or anything. I just simply didn't like them. To me, dogs were smelly and hairy and drooly and those characteristics created one image in my mind, "YUCK!" Here is another fact: I married a "dog person." Experiencing the true love, companionship, and devotion in the relationship with Mark and his dog, my heart began to warm to these creatures. As soon as we bought a home, Mark's first agenda was fencing in the backyard and hitting the animal shelter. There he found the perfect dog: Guinness. Now, I must say, I was not involved at all in the training of this dog. Mark dedicated hours each day to teaching Guinney how to act like a "normal" dog. You see, Guinness was a big scaredy cat. In fact, he was petrified to go down/up stairs, and practically pulled your arm out of its socket on walks to avoid getting within 1/2 block of a dumpster. He coward at trash cans. I know you are thinking, "Doesn't sound like the perfect dog to me!", but he was and is the perfect dog for our family. Almost eight years later, I love this dog. Prior to children, he went everywhere with us. He was a source of comfort during our struggle with infertility. And when I gave birth to Lydia and was hospitalized, I remember saying, "I miss Guinness, let's go home." He "protects" our children and is more than patient when they dress him up, chase him around the house, and even ride on him. I love how he naps with me, taking his place right by my feet keeping them toasty warm. And even though he is undoubtably partial to his man, he waits for me to come upstairs before settling in for the night. There are certainly things about this animal that bother me like his begging for table scraps and others that have just become a way of life like his black hair everywhere. Yet, these are the things we tolerate, and even embrace, for those we love.

These days Guinness is pretty lazy. He doesn't get walks nearly as often as he should. He spends most of the day napping on our bed. So here he is, in "his spot."


I'm still not a "dog person" but I do happen to have a soft spot in my heart for this dog. I can honestly say, I love Guinness.