Dakota

My husband and I have a dog named Dakota. She is a beagle/something mix...we think perhaps dachshund. She is the cutest, sweetest little thing on the face of the planet, and she will quickly become your best friend, with just a few short strokes to her belly. In fact, we joke that if we were ever robbed, she'd be there, showing the burgalers where all the good stuff was, as long as they rubbed behind her ears.

She's 5, soon to be 6 and in the last few months has grown a little grey around the muzzle. She loves to sleep on our pillows, belly up, legs splayed, snoring louder than any human I have ever heard. She recognizes the words "cookie", "outside", "bath", "Grandma's", "breakfast" and "dinner" along with various dog commands. Plus we have realized....she figured out what the spelling of "o-u-t" means. She is so smart and it baffles us at times, especially the first time that she was snuggling in bed with us. She moved a pillow around to her liking, layed down, grabbed the blanket in her mouth, and pulled it up over herself. She is at the same time a total doofus, and seems to have the occasional selective hearing.

Today, we had to take her to the Vet because she's peeing blood. Of course she's "fine". She has a Urinary Tract Infection. So we have to wrap half of a ginormous pill in a Kraft Single and feed it to her, which of course she doesn't mind, because she LOVES cheese.

My husband is beside himself...still worrying about what she may have eaten or drank even though we have gotten a diagnosis already from a trained, educated, professional. And I, of course, as usual, have to be the rational, "strong" one. Makes me wonder what kind of mess he'll be when we have kids and they get sick haha.

For now she is comfortably laying on a satin pillow in the lounge chair, snoozing away, but since dinner is ready, she will most likely be at our feet, hoping that we drop a tasty morsel her way, and because she is not feeling well, she will probably have more than her fair share of tidbits.