About A Dog (Part 7)

It's amazing how your position on things can change and evolve. As I said, fourteen years ago, we decided to get an outside dog that went from a full time outside dog, to a part time inside, most time outside dog, to a most time inside part time outside dog, to a day outside, night inside dog, to a mostly indoor dog today. More so, I went from believing that a dog doesn't belong inside with the humans to feeling that this is the most normal thing in the world.

Having this extraordinary dog in our life required another accommodation on our part. When my wife and I married, we lived in the manufactured home that she owned at the time, planning to eventually build our own home. The photo in part 5 of About A Dog is that abode. Having these plans, we decided to not take vacations during this period and save for the house we hoped to build. Marrying later in life, I had saved up a little money, and living below our means allowed us to save fairly quickly, and we began construction in '99, moving in in 2000. Now that the major saving was done, vacations began entering our thought process. By 2000, we had adjusted in many ways to Sydney's quirks, and the accommodations we had to make in our lives to have her be a part of the family. Vacations were going to be one of these accommodations. I believe we did take a long weekend vacation to the mountains early on, and left her in her fenced in lot, and everyone survived, but by 2000, we knew the reality that she either had to be kenneled, stay with someone we knew or simply go with us. We chose the latter, and all of our vacations are planned for dog friendly locations, with dog friendly accommodations. I imagine it has been less than ideal at times for the rest of the family, but it has been important to include our special needs family member, so that is what we've done. No we haven't been to any exotic locations, and part of me regrets that we were unable, but we have enjoyed a fair variety of locations. We've visited Norfolk, VA and Williamsburg, We've visited North Myrtle Beach, Oak Island, Duck, and this year will be vacationing in Kitty Hawk. We have vacationed in the Smoky Mountains also several times, with many places to explore for young boys and a dog. In reality, the biggest disadvantage has been mealtime. Obviously, everyone can't pile into the car and head to a restaurant to eat, so we typically get takeout to bring back to where we are staying, or in later years, take turns staying with the dog. Myself, I think it's been the correct thing to do, and have no regrets. Sure, things could have been different, perhaps even better, but then again, perhaps not. All of those precious moments shared with the last member who was added to our family... I think she needed to be included, and we had adventures we likely wouldn't have had if she weren't included. Maybe it's best to just look at this journey, as choices made. We made the choice to get a dog. We made the choice to let this dog enter our hearts in a special way and become a true member of the family. We chose to accept this dog grudgingly for all of her faults, but looking back, it's clear she accepted a lot of faults in us too, unquestioningly and loved us without reservation. Did we make accommodations in our lives to allow this? Sure. Was it worth it? Without a doubt. Sydney has been, and is a part of my family, and more important, the friend I could always depend on. I wouldn't change a thing. The good in this relationship between man and dog, has far exceeded the bad.