An Ode To A Dog...

*Our dog Mason gets all the attention around here, so I wrote a little something about my buddy Bruce..

I have this dog Bruce. Got him for free when he was a puppy. The lady at the pound guessed him to be three months old at the time. She liked to scratch his chin. He was her favorite. She loved his gentle copper eyes, and her tone flexed when she urged me to bring him back to her if things didn't work out. It’s been almost seven years now, and although his breath sometimes smells like fish, I think it's working out...

He’s a bit slower these days. He tires easier. Some days he has trouble with his hips. The vet recommended glucose pills, like the ones old people take. He prefers them wrapped in a heavy coat of peanut butter. 

Old Bruce naps more than he used to nap, he snores a little louder and has grown a bit softer along the way. But those eyes are the same. Completely honest.  

He was jealous when I met a girl. But her nails were long and she had a dog who became his best friend. The girl moved in and I quickly slid into second place on Bruce's list of likable humans. Everyone was happy for a while. Then the girl's dog got sick and Bruce lost a friend. .

He moped around the house until we got a new dog. The new dog is a maniac. Sometimes I think Bruce prefers the moping.

Now there’s a baby, too. Let's see, a girl, a baby, a dog, a cat. Bruce and I have come a long way. The house is hectic, the walks are shorter. Everyone’s time has been cut and managed. I hold the baby and Bruce watches. So much has changed in the past seven years. But we're still together. 

Sometimes, late in the night or early in the morning, I stumble upon old Brucie and rouse him from a good snore. He looks up to me with those gentle eyes. Eyes that make you forget he ever tried to bite the mailman or shook mud onto a grandma’s dress. I scratch his chin. He begs forgiveness and begs me to love him. Or maybe it's just a treat he wants. 

Either way, he's pretty great.