Maybe it’s because our lives are so much more quiet that this third golden retriever of ours, seems so much louder. She barks. I rarely remember our second dog barking except in the most extreme circumstances… the unexpected presence of cats, for instance. That could’ve been because we had teenagers around most of the time…with friends…those loudly joyful or strangely belligerent young people who pass through this phase of life as if they are riding a skateboard through a china shop… (more…)

Socks. There is nothing more she treasures more than socks. No, that’s not really true. She treasures the single sock; the pair seemingly redundant hold much less mystery to her. Our third dog, entering awkward adolescence, finds them in the staging area of laundry either done or ready to be cleaned. I’m not sure which she prefers. I’m inclined to think she likes them dirty. She seems to find no greater joy than a single sock dangling from her jaws. She treats it gently as if it might hold some precious life within like a female wolf might carry a newborn. (more…)

Much has happened in the world of Third Dog.

She has gone to both school and work. With her searching eyes and endearing groan it grows more difficult to leave her alone at times. Since I am self-employed she has gone to work with me on several occasions and she achieves in my truck, a level of comfort never experienced by the first two dogs. Perhaps we were over-protective. Perhaps with two kids battling for dominance in the car we simply didn’t have the patience or the space. Third Dog, however, enjoys the ride. (more…)

She teaches us patience. Or rather, reminds us that it’s a virtue we’re supposed to possess and exercise. She teaches us how incredibly fascinating a rope can be when tethered to a tennis ball. She teaches us how difficult it is to be missing one sock out of every pair. She reminds us what unabated affection means and as much as we think she’ll run off to some primeval wild at the first opportunity, she reminds us of loyalty as she returns- in exhausted excitement – at the sound of our voices. She would like very much to join us at the kitchen table. It takes a great deal of our mealtime energy to dissuade her from this inclination.

The lessons we learn in life aren’t often clear and more often than not learned in retrospect like an ill-advised pass in the fourth quarter of a football game that’s now so clearly a terrible mistake. (more…)