Woof!

Ok, so yes I know that dogs aren’t exactly ‘zoo’ animals. But they’re definitely in the spirit of this latest Blog Blast from the Parent Bloggers Network, asking how our house resembles the zoo.

Mine more resembles a kennel though, I suppose.  But close enough. 

You see, my 5-year-old daughter is completely crazy over dogs and puppies. She has a whole (stuffed) kennel of her own, with dalmations, poodles, hounds, and every mutt you can imagine. She begs us almost daily to get her a puppy.

And since we keep saying no on that point (4 cats are more than enough, thank you very much), she simply becomes a puppy herself.

It’s not uncommon for me to reach down and ‘pet’ a touseled brown head while watching tv or on the computer. And from the panting, barking and howling sounds in our house – anyone walking by would probably swear that we do have a dog of some sort in here. Licks are offered as often as kisses are (although quite firmly denied!), and she even has a favorite rubber bone that she carries around for us to toss for a quick game of ‘fetch’. And yes, she does fetch it in her mouth, down on all fours.

Sigh.

I do have to admit that there are benefits to having this kind of ‘pet’ though. For one thing, she’s completely housebroken (although it took way longer than I suppose it would to train a real puppy. But puppies don’t wear diapers either, so it probably evens out, lol). And we don’t even have to worry about where to step in the backyard. 

Lately, our kennel seems to be growing, as our youngest has joined right in with her sister, wanting to play ‘fetch’ and trying to lick our faces whenever she gives us kisses. And it’s cute – for now. Somehow I have the feeling though that by the time they’re teenagers, this little game will have worn off.

And by that time, we’ll probably have given in and gotten a ‘real’ dog.  But for now, I’m pretty happy with our ‘pretend’ version – especially once she stands back up and becomes my little girl again. 

This post was written as part of the Parent Bloggers Network’s blog blast on ‘I Live in a Zoo!’, in conjunction with iKnow Animals, Letters & Sounds.