I never wanted a dog. For over a decade my husband kept saying he wanted a dog but I, in all my wisdom, piled on the list of why we did NOT want a dog: the vet bills, the food bills, the space they take, apartment living, the dirt, the farts and on and on. And then one day something changed.
I was walking in the neighborhood and noticed all the dogs and the puppies and thought, Maybe.
As an artist I am alone a lot and thought I could use some company, a companion, a buddy.
To make a very long story short after looking into Golden Retrievers we decided that a Labrador Retriever was a better choice for us. So the search began.
Below is Wyot on her first day with us. Her love of my shoes has never waned.
Everyone had an idea of where I could find a Lab but none was right. At first we thought a chocolate Lab would be nice and then a red one and finally a yellow one. We wanted an English lab as we preferred the larger, square face with the shorter nose. I searched high and low and wide. I spoke to countless breeders and made half a dozen deposit checks just to rip them up last minute because they weren’t the right breeder of our puppy to be.
It took months and months and finally Dihlon said, “Let’s just wait another year.” I agreed, he left for work and I immediately picked up the laptop to do one more search. Did I mention I am a tad obsessive? I couldn’t give up. Lo and behold, I found our breeder and it felt right and I jumped to call and get in line.
Wyot was born 18 October, 2018 and we picked her up on 8 December, 2018.
She is AKC registered as Wyot the Windancer.
Here she is sleeping in my arms, something else she still loves to do. But it is not only my arms or lap or shoulder. She loves my husband just as much. Odd she seems to understand I am the female and Dihlon the male. She comes to me whenever she is sick or hurt or hungry and she runs to Dihlon for ball chasing, etc.
This was the other evening. I was on the phone and she just wanted to be close. Needless to say, my husband and I are very smitten and grovel at her paws. (Notice the vacuum cleaner. A MUST with a Lab).
This is my husband, Dihlon, cradling her. She was smaller then but he can still pick her up and throw her in the tub when she is full of mud as he did last night.
That’s another thing. Wyot loves mud. She loves to dig in it. It looks like she may enjoy eating it.
We noticed she wasn’t underfoot one day and when we called her she exuberantly charged at me dripping in mud.
Wyot likes to chew things and swallow them. When she vomited for 3 days and wouldn’t eat we were forced to take her to the emergency hospital for the second time. First thing in the morning I took her to our vet and they told me she needed immediate exploratory surgery which means they sliced her intestines open to get the blockage out. Said blockage was one of the feet of her “indestructible” chicken toys. They said they couldn’t gaurantee she would live which had me in tears before I left their office.
She was out of commission for two weeks and for a puppy that’s practically a lifetime. She had more energy than she should have and Dihlon thought she could be outside whihc the Vet vetoed. A few days later she was dripping something viscous from her underbelly. She had formed a secondary infection and needed antibiotics.
You would think that would be the end of it. 5 times more she has succumbed to vomiting, no appetite and assorted issues that always end up with vet visits, xrays and anti-vomiting shots, saline shots to help push the object through her intestines and hydration. It’s unbeliveable and frightening. I won’t even mention the damage to the rugs and psyche.
But we love her nonetheless!
Wyot loves to sit on our laps. Dihlon is bigger so she loves being on him. If he is in his hammcok she jumps in and turns it over. She has fallen asleep on my lap treating me like I’m a bed or her personal property but, of course, I love it.
We were at some beach motel when she climbed on my lap and promptly just fell asleep.
She loves the beach. Running and running and oh, more running! We may have to move.
I have been told that we love dogs because they give us uncondtional love. It does seem so.
It doesn’t seem to matter that she has turned our house and our lives upside down.
We started training Wyot at a few months and she is a now a Good Canine Citizen and Therapy dog. Everyone loves Wyot. She is sweet. Even our Vets think she is a good dog. We think she is an exceptional dog. She is calm and loving. She never chewed the couch or tables when she was younger but she loves our socks and there were many mornings when we would find a sock in a pile of vomit on the kitchen floor. We were lucky as many a dog has died with a sock stuck in their intestines or stomach. We are far stricter about the socks now.
All owners love their dogs and we are no exceptions.
Was I right about all the reasons to Not get a dog. Yes, I was. All except the farting.
Would we give her back? Not on your life!
