Dog Ma

"No I don't have children but I'm a mom to a lovable, senior German Short-haired Pointer." This is my standard response when I'm asked about my motherhood status.  Many women may think I'm being trite when I compare being a Dog Ma to being a mom to a child, however I do know and can appreciate the difference.  Though there are more similarities than one would think.

To raise a well mannered, healthy dog, who is has high separation anxiety and is a high energy, hunting breed takes dedication, love and patience; this is true of any parent.  When we rescued Triggs five years ago, he showed up from Utah at our doorstep and we were unprepared at how to raise this neglected 4-5 year old dog.  Like any new parent we didn't get a manual with him, nor much of his life story- like his exact age, so we learned as we went.  Some how it took us a while to figure out he prefers to be crated when we are out.  After the 2011 riot (not the Vancouver Stanley Cup 2011 riot), I'm referring to the riot Triggs had in the spare bedroom one day while we were at work.  He destroyed the room and that was when we decided the best thing to do was to put him in his crate during the day.  No riots since.  When he was younger we learned he required two runs a day to remain obedient, but now as he is in his senior years he does just fine on one a day.  Most of his time now is spent sleeping on his bed by the fire place or on the couch, or on your lap.  Yes, like a child, he too loves cuddle time and every night he snuggles in with us on the couch before bed time.

And like a kid, he too eats things he isn't suppose to.  There has been nights that I'm awake cleaning up dog vomit or letting him out several times in the night to "use the bathroom" so to speak.  I recall one night I literally didn't get any sleep as he ate a charcoal briquette from the propane fire pit.  Every 20 mins he wanted outside to eat grass to try to force himself to be sick.  Finally by 9:00 am he got rid of the charcoal and we both slept for hours.

Speaking of sleep.  If you think dog parents get to sleep in, you are mistaken.  As our fur baby has aged he tends to get up earlier and earlier to be fed.  He will never be old enough to pour himself a bowl of kibble, like kids eventually learn to eat cereal until mom or dad gets up.

Other things like education and recreation have some relevance in a dog's life.  We, too, stress about how our little ones does in school.  Training was a big part of our lives in the first few years we had him.  And I remember worrying about how he was going to perform in obedience class.  He isn't a straight 'A' kind of dog, but he did well enough.  Now as a dog- mom I'll never have to worry about hockey or soccer practices but Triggs does love a rousing game of fetch, hide and seek, and tracking small prey in our backyard.  He also loves to swim and this year he got a chance to kayak with Scott.  Hunting, fishing, and camping as also his favourite hobbies.

And like some 25 year- olds, who live at home in their parent's basements, Triggs will never get a job or move out.  So we are stuck with him until he passes on.  This I'm totally fine with.  There are many cool things about living with a dog, such as he always loves me.  He is always happy to see me when I get home.  He loves to snuggle when I'm sad, and he makes me laugh all the time with the weird things he does.   I'm sure most parents would say the same thing about how awesome their kids are.

So for Trigg's milestone 9-10 birthday we had a little dog party for him.  Three of his dog friends and their parents came over.  The dogs played together, while we adults had a few drinks.  From what I can remember from going to various 1 year old parties it was kind of the same thing, expect no smash cake.  :)

Triggs' present for his birthday, a big bone.

In all honesty I know that being a real mom is a heck of a lot more work.  But you can't deny the fact that having a dog takes effort too.