The New Dog

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor

After literal years of putting my foot down about not getting another dog (to go with the dog we already have, along with two cats, five chickens, two hermit crabs and an assortment of fishes), I finally relented and said we could think about considering possibly looking around and seeing about maybe getting another dog.

So, of course, my wife found one on Facebook literally the next day…

And so Tess arrived last Sunday, and as I write this it has been exactly one week with the new dog, which I am told is part border collie, part golden retriever. That l means nothing to me. She is, to my trained eye, “a black and white dog.”

As an avowed “cat person,” I could do without ever owning another dog ever again, but they do say, “Happy wife, happy life,” and there’s nothing that rhymes with “husband,” so we don’t get our own cute saying. But so far, the dog has been OK. The cats aren’t super amused by the presence of another animal, but she has largely left them alone. The house-breaking is going to be an adventure but I guess she’ll figure it out. Tess is currently at my feet, snoozing away as I type. The other dog usually does this, so maybe they’ve decided to work in shifts?