Long Relationships

It is my pleasure to welcome my guest this week, Rebecca Camarena. She’s here to talk about her beloved pets Spencer, Sassy and Tasha. I hope you’ll join me in welcoming her.

Spencer and Me, My Faithful Companion
By Rebecca Camarena

When I bought a dog after buying a house, I naturally assumed that I could get a loving dog that would sit at my feet while I spent hours at my desk writing. I was unaware that a relationship with a dog required training, perseverance and patience. My childhood family dog was shared by everyone and he never graced us with his cheerful personality. So when I brought home my German Shepherd lab mix home, we named him Spencer and he was going to be my companion.

Spencer was as loving as he was disobedient. The disobedient part seemed to start from the minute we brought him home. I had wanted to raise Spencer as an inside dog, but he got into trouble everywhere he went. One wag of his tail and everything on a low table was all over the floor. He was incorrigible, stubborn and resistant to house training. No became my favorite word as I tried harder to train him. Often times he lost his footing on the tile floors and ended up sliding across the floor knocking over whatever he landed against. I hadn’t bought my house a fixer-upper, but it was soon to be one with this out of control dog. I thought how will I ever manage with this horse in my house?

Spencer was known as The World’s Worst Dog before Marley the dog ever came along. After some agonizing moments I decided to let Spencer live outside. A dog house was built for him and we had a party to go along with him moving to the yard. You couldn’t have asked for a happier dog, the yard was all his and Spencer took on the role of an Alpha Male dog.

By now, he weighed 90 pounds and he greeted us by jumping up on us and putting his paws on our shoulders. With more energy than sense he took it as a challenge to dig, chew and destroy anything that was in the yard. Spencer chewed window screens and dug out newly planted trees and jumped on the metal box that housed the air-conditioning fan system and stood tall as king of the yard.

I hoped he would soon outgrow this behavior because I didn’t have much of a yard left. I thought maybe Spencer just needed more attention. Spending the morning outside writing would be perfect for both of us. Spencer greeted me in his usual way with his paws coming to rest on my chest licking my face as if he hadn’t seen me in days never mind that I was holding a hot coffee mug. It was a greeting I didn’t return because I saw my chair, (webbing on a metal frame) was shredded in pieces all over the yard.

I could only respond with “Spencer you dummy, you ate my chair.” Even as I yelled at him he still had that goofy good natured look. Putting my coffee down so I could pet Spencer, feeling bad that I had yelled at him, I didn’t want to give up hope that someday Spencer would be my faithful companion, but he seemed to prefer doing it on his own time.

***
Rebecca is a freelance writer in So. Ca and aspiring children’s authors. Her articles have appeared in local newspapers and community newsletters. She once interviewed Sam Yorty the former Mayor of Los Angeles in the 1960’s. She is an aspiring author of children’s character animal stories, blogging about dogs and cats, book authors and Hollywood. Find her at:

Dogs Rule Cats Drool, http://dogsrulecatsdrool.wordpress.com
Paperback Writer, http://rebecca2007.wordpress.com
The Real Hollywood, http://valleygirlmusings.blogspot.com
Top Notch Writer at Twitter, http://twitter.com/topnotchwriter.com
Dogs Rule Cats at Twitter, http://twitter.com/dogsrulecats