Puppies are darling. Puppies are sweet. Puppies love and lick and cuddle and adore! I have had dogs my whole life - a schnauzer, a dachshund, an American Eskimo, a border collie and a yellow lab to be exact. I am a dog person. It must have been a cruel twist of fate that found me married to a cat person (with a slight fear of dogs, I think). We have three cats that, while pretty, are not sweet, loving, or adoring. I knew that something must change.
I began working on my husband years ago. I knew a dog would have to be in our future, but I kept hitting roadblocks. One such roadblock was my sister, who has four large breed dogs. They are very loving and welcoming, but for a cat person with a slight fear of dogs, they were a bit intimidating. However, slowly but surely my magic (AKA crying, bribery, and threats) worked. He agreed to get a dog but wanted sole control of the type of dog we chose. He would research it and get back to me. I think most wives out there know what that means.
I had no choice but to begin the search myself. At first I thought a schnauzer would be in our future when one of my students announced that his dog had puppies. Next I took a long, hard look at beagles because my friend loved hers so much. Another friend raved about her Scottie, but it was a teacher friend at school who brought in pictures of her brother’s mutt puppies that sold me. These tiny balls of black fur leapt off the paper and into my heart. I drove there that night.
Hazel was one of twelve in her litter, the product of a black lab father and a long-haired dachshund mother. Yes, I am serious. All the puppies were black puffs of fur that looked almost exactly alike. My son chose Hazel because she seemed the most at ease with us. It didn’t hurt that she immediately licked my face. I chose her name before I ever found her. Hazel was the name that I would have named my daughter had my husband and I decided to have children together.
We carried Hazel everywhere and never left her alone. This was a mistake because now, as a significantly larger dog, Hazel wants to be carried much like a child does. She whines until she is picked up and tries to block our path if we do not bring her along wherever we go. She likes to sit in laps and to ride sitting up in the seat of the car. Of course, we must address her appearance. She combines the physical coloring, head shape, and width of her father, the black lab, with the short legs, long body and long hair of her mother. I am convinced that these are the only twelve dogs like this in the world. She is simply adorable.
Hazel makes our home complete. Granted, she chews up shoes and DVDs, but she licks, cuddles and adores our every move. Who can say no to that!
