Buddy’s new buddy

If you remember, my wife wanted a dog. I repeat; my wife wanted “a” dog. Doesn’t the indefinite article “a” mean only one? It certainly implies it, right? I wanted zero dogs, and I made that abundantly clear. The reason being is that I don’t want to put in the work to take care of them. I would rather be wasting my time doing something completely unproductive like trying to get a new high score on Bejeweled.

Anyway, since we got Buddy it has been quite the ride. He’s a playful dog that never barks and is eager to please. Yes I have to walk him every now and then when the wife is busy. I usually just download some John Piper sermons on my iPod and listen to them while I walk the dog. Of course there are those moments that make my blood boil when he’s Exorcist vomiting all over the house, sleeping on the couch, or runs off into the street chasing cats. Not to mention all of the dog food and dog toys we’ve spent money on to keep him alive and happy. I’m not exactly sure if I’d spend this much effort on my own children.

My brother-in-law PJ is being stationed, with his family, in Guam for the next three years. They have a dog (a Boxer) name Samson. They don’t really want to take him on a sixteen-hour flight. Also, in the event that PJ gets called to active duty it would be easier for Ally, his wife, to travel back to the states with only the kids.

Interestingly, my wife approached me recently and said, “Honey, would you want to take Samson for PJ and Ally?” My reply, “Why? I don’t even want our dog.” She responded, “Because they’ve had him since he was a puppy and he was a gift from Ally’s parents (Her dad passed away from cancer not three years ago.). I’m sure it would mean a lot to PJ and Ally if they knew Samson would be taken care of but no pressure. If you don’t want to take him it’s okay.” I thought to myself, “How is that ‘No Pressure?’” My wife should’ve just said, “Honey, you need to take Samson because you’ll look like an A-hole if you don’t.” Fair enough. Although I’m not sure how I got duped into getting two dogs when I didn’t want either one.

I knew that my only escape was going to be that Samson and Buddy wouldn’t get along and they’d try and kill each other. So before committing to a second dog, we decide to have a “road test” by letting Samson stay with us for the week. I just kept thinking, “double the dog food and double the dog feces to pick up. Wonderful, more work.” Truthfully, I was holding out hope that they wouldn’t get along, so I would feel better not taking in Samson.

At first there was hope on that front. Samson decided to pee in Buddy’s food bowl in an attempt to assert himself as the alpha dog. Samson even drank out of the toilet. I told the wife, “See, Buddy’s only going to pick up bad habits from Samson.” Furthermore, we recently got Buddy to stop sleeping on the couch (or so we think). Guess who’s sleeping on the couch now? That’s right, Samson. This is looking promising.

However, things started taking a turn for the worst. The wife started walking them together. No problems. They actually run well together. Interestingly, they even have their sides picked out. They like to be next to each other, but Buddy runs on the right side closest to the wife and Samson runs on the left. If they ever get tangled up or crisscrossed, they can’t continue walking until each one is on the correct side. It’s if as though they made an arrangement. Not only that, but while they’re in the house they wrestle like a couple of brothers quite frequently. When they’re out of breath they both stop, look at each other and agree it’s time for a water break. Then they both happily stroll to the same water bowl and drink out of it like a couple of horses out of a trough. As it turns out, . . . you guessed it . . . they get along. As a result, we now have two dogs. Interesting how life turns out sometimes. Of course I told my wife that if we take a second dog we’d have to put off kids even further. She didn’t buy it. Great. At least the weekend is here.