feliceI have been stalking Lulu’s for the past 2 years.
My kind of Lulu is a dog that will never be over 20 pounds so it can fly with us, is part poodle, soft and cuddly. When my kids were little we had JoJo, a Wheaton who was adorable, but not that smart, and then Jazzy for 14 years who was the cutest smartest cockapoo ever and died 2 years ago and I’ve been mourning ever since.
Now, my Lulu of choice is a mini golden doodle. I’ve had plenty of time to observe the dog walking parades everywhere throughout Covid and the runway of breeds to choose from is endless. But the dog that gets me crouching and cooing are these little golden doodles.
Shamelessly, I barely look at the human at the end of the leash and talk directly to the puppy and just listen for the answer.
“Oh you are the cutest, you are so cute.” And then, in the rudest of unapologetic behaviors I nod to the ancillary human asking — “Are you empty nested, how did you decide to get a pup?” And so the stories begin.
My interviewing of humans has been a courage building process. I have unconsciously been looking for the one thing that will push me to over ride my better instincts and my husband which are screaming at me as to why it makes no sense to get a dog now.
Here’s a few reasons not get a dog:
- Who’s going to watch the dog?
- Who’s going to train the dog?
- No kids at home, we want to travel.
- We love to golf and that takes 4 plus hours and that’s too long to leave a puppy.
- We will have that dog for 15 years — how can we commit to that NOW!
Screw the rational thinking, my heart is telling me otherwise and I am on auto repeat once again….
“Bill, we need a dog. I know it makes no sense but I am a dog person. A house is not a home without a dog… full stop!”
“Nope, we are not getting a dog. It’s more work than you know. We have grandkids and we aren’t going to spend our time taking care of a dog. And, you know I’m the one who is going to end up watching that dog.”
“The grandkids will love a puppy. Dogs are good for babies. Our kids aren’t getting a puppy so we will be grandparents with benefits. Please……”
“No, Felice, I know you are going to get a dog and are going to ignore me, but I want to go on record that it’s not a good idea.”
I know Bill is right. He is always right. But, I fell in love with Bill for the same reason he will will fall in love with a dog. Bill’s heart is on his sleeve and loves to nurture. Bill will fall in love with a dog and it will be good for both of us, he just doesn’t know it yet.
“Ok, I get it, you never want to get a dog.”
And that’s when I decided I couldn’t wait for him to say Yes because it wasn’t going to happen. So, one vote Yea for a dog, one vote Nay against a dog and that kind of democracy meant there needed to be a deciding vote. So, I gave myself another vote because that’s how we decide things in our home and that was that. Bill smiled with a warning sign in his twinkly eyes and I called the breeder.
Our little Lulu was born on May 11, 2022 and arrived 10 weeks later and even better my sister-in-law Nancy agreed to play the role of the Stork.
Nancy was flying up from North Carolina to Boston to visit friends and was willing to bring the little pup to Boston. The first meeting was perfection. Nancy is a total dog whisperer and assured me it was no big deal and we hung at the airport with little Lulu together for the hand off. It was such a sweet moment, way better than the delivery room with zero pain.
And, there we were. Lulu and me. I put her in her pet carrier next to me in the front seat and she tucked herself down and settled in for the ride and without a whimper we headed back to our island of Martha’s Vineyard. The second Bill saw Lulu we both knew… we were a family.
There’s a reason in our family I always get 2 votes!
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