Dogs and Generals

Off and on for the last couple of years, my wife and I have been talking about owning a dog. She wanted a chew toy, while I wanted a bigger dog.

I was going to name him General McTavish, which is a character from a video game. It sounds nerdy but I thought I could call him “General” for short.

Not willing to give up our differences we settled for a midsize dog. Or at least I did.

Every once in a while I like to surprise my dear wife Susan. Many times I’m 75 percent positive that she will love my surprises. When I showed up at her job with a five week old Cocker Spaniel puppy, I was about 50 percent sure of what I did.

My meter was a lot lower an hour before that, as the pup yelped as soon as we left his brothers and sisters.

His cries reminded me of the day that PJ was born. On that day, PJ cried for the first 45 minutes.

Being midway through the first week of being a new pet owner, it looks like things are going to work out.

Pj, who is now close to being 11 months old loves our dog, affectionately named Bruce Wayne or Brucey by my wife.

The first morning the pup yelped as he woke up in his kennel and triggered a chain reaction from PJ, who cried.

I thought tending to my child first with a warm bottle of milk was a good idea until he rejected it.

It turns out that our boy was more interested in seeing the puppy, who was obviously disgruntled.

After I took the dog outside, PJ would turn his attention to his bottle.

On the other side, one evening the pup fell asleep in our living room. While he slept, PJ was crying in his crib. Upon hearing the cries of our son, the pup darted to his room to investigate.

I think it’s safe to say they like each other.

I also have to commend the pup because there have been no accidents in our house, which is astounding considering how young the pup is. We keep a close eye on Bruce when he is out of his kennel just to be sure, but he has taken well to his house training so far.

Looks like Brucey will fit right in with our small family.