Tuesday, August 7, 2007

just dogs

I've always lived with assorted animals, except for a brief aberration when I was a college student and it was better not to have pets because who knew what time you'd get home (or how many days later)? Most animals like routine; they like to know what's going to happen when, especially if you're talking breakfast. They like to know where things are and they like those things to stay put, except for their toys, which they want to be free to throw around the house. Which brings me to the current chaos.

I'm packing to move from Portland back to Seattle, where I'm from, and the dogs watch me constantly because they're not sure what's going on. A human running around the house, moving things from one place to another and swearing, generally means vacation time when the dogs either come along in the car or go to doggie camp. They're Airedales, outgoing types who enjoy camp. But the running around and swearing just keeps happening without anyone getting out the door with a suitcase. So they watch. And they follow my every step, which they do by walking in front of me and stopping every couple of steps before glancing back. I believe that's a general dog trait--following you by walking in front. It makes things more difficult, especially if you're carrying something and have a certain momentum going and there are two dogs milling around you and a box in front of them and a table over to the right.

Every time I move, which has been much too often the past seven years, I accumulate bruises. That's about as close as I'll come to being a kid again.

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