They bring us so much joy and laughter, yet just as much irritation and frustration. They completely rely on us for everything necessary for life. All plans made have to first take in consideration their needs. They add on an extra 30 + minutes to packing and trying to get out the door, whether it's for a day trip or for a week. They immediately know what kind of mood you're in and do all that's in their power to make you feel better or celebrate your joy along with you. No matter how mature and trained they are, there are always times when you seem to be constantly cleaning up food, pee, poop and puke. They are always so happy to see you and you get the same reaction if you've been gone for 10 minutes or all day. The only thing they long for is to spend time with you and be loved by you. And at the end of the day my love for them is so strong I can't imagine the hole that would be left if they weren't here.
Sounds kind of like children, right?!?
But I think I'll introduce them one at a time, and today I will start with Callie Marie…
I'm starting with Callie because she is our middle child, and being a middle child myself, I relate to her lot in life. We do not have the prestige and seniority of being the first born and our brief stint of enjoying the attention of being the new addition is cut short by the even newer, younger, cuter addition. Which means you have to work on fine tuning your special and unique qualities, which Callie definitely has! Steven actually laughs because he really does see similarities in Callie and me. Which I see as well in him and Shelby, but that's for another post.
Callie is the least vocal of the three, but very loyal. She doesn't really crave attention, but she by far needs the most affection!! She is also very sensitive at the slightest raised voice, it does not take much effort to convey to Callie that we are not happy with her behavior. Our disapproval of anything she does devastates her! And then she looks so pitiful and you have to just love on her and make it up to her for the rest of the evening! (Usually it's Steven that hurts her feelings, lol!) But because of that, she minds very well. And then she's also our free spirit and a true athlete. When we take the girls hiking or out to a field or pond she comes alive! She'll run 10 miles and back before we notice she was even gone! But she always checks in. She's very observant and will notice any new wild animal friends and try to go "greet" them, long before the other two catch on. Back home, she very easily clears our 4 foot fence, which is a daily routine of hers. Yet, it's just to stretch her legs and maybe greet the neighbors but never to run off. She just simply lets herself back in and waits for us to get home.
Another unique part of Callie's story, is that we kind of rescued her. She was a farm puppy who from what we were told was picked on by her brothers. They would lay on top of any food put out for them and not let her eat anything. So when we got Callie, she was this scared, skinny, 6 month old pup (we had to guess her age). It was so heartbreaking at first because we had to completely isolate her when she ate because she would go after any speck of food with such speed and force like it would be the last meal she would get. She was scared of Shelby, the sound of Steven's voice, a leash, you name it! It took us quite a few months for her to build that trust with us and believe that we will feed her every morning and every evening and she was home to stay and that we will love and protect her. Because of all that, Callie now has an attitude of gratefulness and thankfulness. And I believe she knows she was rescued. So if you come meet Callie, you'll be introduced to what a 70 pound lap dog full of love looks like :)
Callie....when are you coming to see grandpapa?
ReplyDeleteHow about the week after May 9th...I'll need a babysiter!! :)
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