Got home after work and an after-work hike around 8:30pm. My huskies have been at home all day by themselves. I have come to the conclusion that I have more separation anxiety than they do as I missed them all day long and ditched an after-hike dinner to rush home and see them. Certainly more than my older dog, Angelus, who I know loves me to death but also is pretty husky-like and likes to stay a cool customer :) (Although he did run up, ears back, tail wagging with kisses when I got home :) ) The feeling of all that love coming at you when you walk in the door is pretty darn awesome :)
Angelus is, was and always will be, my guy. On his first night with us, first night away from his doggy mom and siblings, I slept on the floor with him in the kitchen (he was 7 wks old – not potty trained yet.) That first weekend we picked him up, I was sick but I stayed with him the entire time – hanging out in the yard, walking him, sleeping by him. He is my bud. But he was not prone to hugging and skooshing – I had to break him down by constant hugging :) Now he’s like ‘fiiiiinnne…..as long as no one is looking.’ Unless it’s the pre-walk/breakfast morning time – then he is a huge love bug (or if you have chicken in your hand!)
My younger guy (by 1.5 yrs) is Storm. Hoth Stormtrooper officially with the AKC :) He loves his momma. I guess it wouldn’t be far off the mark to call him a momma’s boy. He cannot let me out of his sight for very long. He follows me room to room at home if he notices I’ve been gone from where he is after a short while. And he waits for me by the door if I leave him at home. I love the fact that he loves me so much but want to make sure he still has fun and is happy even if I’m not there! But I don’t think he truly does/is…
When he was a puppy he was supposed to be my husband’s dog (in hindsight this was like allowing your kid to get a pet ;) ) He wanted a puppy who loved him as much as Angelus loved me. I told him that with pets, they respond to who cares for them the most. Since I took care of Angelus 99.9% of the time, of course he loved me more (he better!!) To be fair to husband, he did start the puppy process by caring for Storm all of the time. He fed him, walked him, took him to work. I was not allowed to carry him to bed (I carried Angelus down to bed every night until I simply could not physically – he weighed like 60lbs!), feed him, skoosh or hug him. He was husband’s puppy!
Then Stormy got hurt. He crashed into a Rottweiler at the dog park and got up limping. He shook it off but then over the next week, he started limping more and more. His knee was never the same. It would pop out (called luxating patella) and back in. So we found the best surgeon and got him his surgery. The first weekend was going to be tough as we have 2 flights of stairs in the house and Storm needed to be carried or at least helped using the doggie sling to go potty. And then hung out with to monitor, etc. He got his surgery on Thursday and we picked him up from the hospital on Friday morning. He hung out in my office with me that Friday.
On Saturday morning my husband said he was going for a “quick surf” at Ocean Beach and then would be home to help with Storm. I asked him not go. He said he “had to” – was “really good surf”. Fine….(this is girl code for’ it’s not fine but I’m not going to argue about it’ – men should really learn that.)
About an hour or hour and a half after he left I get a call…he hurt his knee surfing, had to be helped from the water and could barely walk/drive home. And stairs were going to be hard, needed to go to a doctor, etc. Nice. He wasn’t eaten by a shark so I felt justified in being more annoyed by the fact that I asked you not to go and you ignored me and now you were hurt just enough to be a pain in the a**.
Sure enough. He hobbled in. Doctor would tell him to stay off his leg. Possibly needed physical therapy, blah, blah….Of course, this also meant that he couldn’t help me with Storm. Like carry the 50lb dog up and down the stairs or in and our of my car…for the next 6 weeks or something.
So I took care of Storm from that day on. He came with me and Angelus to work now. Stayed with us in my office. I took them for walks by myself. He became my dog. I cared for him when he was hurt. He knew it. Very simple in the dog world.
I know he loves his Dad. But he can’t live without, or stand being apart from, his Mom. These guys mean the world to me. They make every day a good day. :)
You can follow their exploits on twitter: @mr_angelus and @stormdevil
Or on dogster:
http://www.dogster.com/dogs/114743
http://www.dogster.com/dogs/114778
This is Storm with his cast on and a pic of Angelus & Storm together (they don’t do THAT often!)
Storm with his cast
Storm & Angelus
