The Kindred Canine Crew

At the very moment I am writing this my seventeen year old twins are carrying Roxy, the German Shepherd, through the house. One boy has her front paws and the other her back ones. I’m not sure why they are transporting her like she’s Queen Cleopatra going for a cruise down the Nile, but they are and she loves them so much she lets them.

Roxy is just one of our six dogs. That’s right. This nana has five kids, one grandchild and six dogs. That’s one for every kid and grandchild if they were all home at the same time, which they usually aren’t. How did I end up with so many critters? It’s a long story but I’ll condense it as best I can.

This is Murphy, who is slightly neurotic, sometimes temperamental and definitely my problem child, er dog.

One day I happened to be at the veterinarian’s office (I’ve probably financed his last five vacations) and a woman was holding the cutest little Cocker Spaniel puppy. Instead of scratching it behind the ears and moving on I made the mistake of asking them where they got the puppy. They told me and then said, “And there’s only one left. It’s there all alone and really needs a good home.” The “all alone” part got me and Murphy has been with us for seven years.

This one is Sam. He came from the animal shelter and he has the sweetest disposition of any animal I’ve ever known. We have no idea what kind of dog he is and truthfully, neither us nor Sam cares.

Oreo’s owner moved to an apartment in town and needed someone to take him. He’s a country dog and you know what they say about them, you can take the dog out of the country but not the country out of the dog. He’s the oldest of our animals. I’m not sure exactly how old he is (he won’t tell me) but his chin whiskers are turning white and when the dogs chase the boys on their four wheeler Oreo is like me after I go to the exercise place up town. He comes back to the house with his tongue hanging out, panting, out of breath and wondering just why he left his shade tree in the first place.

This is Lefty. He’s a Brittany Spaniel and he and his girlfriend, Sugar (who refused to have her picture made because she was having a bad hair day) are the newest additions to the Kindred canine crew. My son brought them home because he said he wanted hunting dogs. All they’ve hunted so far is the garbage can in the garage and my great-aunts fur cap that they chewed into itty bitty pieces.

I know that some folks think I’m crazy for having so many animals but there were lots of people that thought I was crazy for having five kids too, and that turned out okay. Fact of the matter is, it really isn’t anyone’s business how many kids or dogs I have as long as I take care of them and so far we’ve managed just fine. If you don’t believe me just ask Roxy but wait until she gets back from her adventures with the twins. She’s a tad busy at the moment being queen of the Kindred canine crew.

Queen Roxy at rest in the garage.