Dogs

So are they cute or what? Am in a dog mode AGAIN
after seeing an absolutely gorgeous German Shepard
at the local park where my husband and I often go to
walk. We have been talking for a while about getting
a dog, but tend to converge on a couple of points. The
breed and size of dog is one, he likes the big guys, I would
like something a tad more managable. Then he wants a puppy, I would
like a young dog who is at least already partially trained. So every once in
a while we meander down to the SPCA, or check the paper, in case we see
the ONE. I guess we will know him/her when the time or situation is right.
I had a dog when I was in undergrad, Amaretto! He was a mixed breed, I
think part retriever, part some kind of hound, same color as the cuties in
the pic above. I found him as a puppy, dumped by someone on the side of
the road, totally dirty and tic-infested. I cleaned him up, took him to a
vet for all the shots, and he lived on the balcony of my apartment (it was
huge, plenty of room for him). Amaretto was just too cute, sneaking into
the living room sometimes, sitting on the chair as if he belonged there,
watching TV! And he had a thing for my slippers, oftentimes dashing
away with one of them. And he got to recognize the sound of my keys, if
he heard me pick them up he knew I was leaving and would begin to
'cry'....broke my heart each day! But at the same time he recognized the
sound of my car, so when he heard me come back and park on the side
of the building, he would hang his head in the railing of the balcony
and welcome me home! I finally had to give him away just before I
graduated, as I was overseas at the time and was coming back to the U.S.
to pursue a graduate degree, I cried for 2 days....and still miss and think
of my little Amaretto. My best friend in undergrad named his pet Bacardi;
basically, we named our pets after our drinks of choice! Could have named
other pets Stoly or Kahlua if we had had more than one! Not that we
drank alot, although we did often buy pepsi or coke, pour out a bit, and
fill it back up with a little Bacardi, and go to class...made the boring ones
go by faster! Other times we did OJ with the Stoly or Amaretto.....yes,
believe it or not, Amaretto and OJ go great....and we discovered one night
after running out of pepsi, that apple juice goes well with rum! Hey, we
just couldn't drink the stuff straight! We even mixed 7-UP with white
wine, very cool and refreshing! Before you get any ideas, I don't drink
anymore other than the occasional glass of wine or champagne on special
occasions or holidays, drinking days long over, but they were fun!