We have 3 dogs.
Charlie is the people-person dog. He loves to meet everyone he can – animals included. It’s a bit of a shame because the other two are very territorial so when we’re all out on walks he misses out because the other two go berserk when they see someone new.
But when he was younger there were times when he would escape from the back yard to follow the two Mormon girls who came to the front door or the elderly couple that used to speed-walk the neighborhood every morning. It’s a great quality but also one that kept me on edge when he was young.
Diesel is really Ali’s dog (meaning, she bought him). I’m pretty sure he was an impulse purchase as an excuse to have something else to do with her attention (her last relationship was not great and it took her a LONG time to get out of it). When she moved back home and brought Diesel, he quickly bonded with Laurie and me because we were around all the time. As an owner, Ali does not spend as much time with him as she should. He’s really, at this point, Laurie’s dog and though he likes to play with me – he dotes on Laurie.
Diesel is a purebred Dachshund. SUPPOSEDLY, he’s a “miniature” one. I’m not an expert on Dachshunds but there’s very little that’s miniature about him. He’s also, I was surprised to discover, absolutely PACKED with muscle. After some research, I discovered that they were bred to hunt badgers and are considered to be the 2nd toughest dogs in the world.
He’s also the clown of the group. He loves his toys, loves to play, and even loves Babou the cat (although Babou wants nothing to do with him). One of the things that makes me smile every time is that he will pick up a squeaking toy and start making it squeak repeatedly. He will then run with it in his mouth to the front door and back to the family room. It is as close to a kid making a toy plane “fly” as I have ever seen in a dog.
Archer is the most complicated dog I have ever met. He’s mainly short-haired, deer-headed Chihuahua. He floats between fiercely independent and a solid member of the pack. He has very specific toys he likes to play with alone but also loves to play with Diesel. He sleeps alone at night and only comes to bed when he knows that it’s close to wake-up time.
Archer generally stays in my office to sleep in his bed during the day but follows me down for lunch time.
On walks he is the leader and stays out ahead. I’m pretty sure what’s going through his head on walks is the though that he will see a squirrel or rabbit and he will get to chase him. He’s got very long legs for his size and he’s, not only very fast, but also an expert at getting out of every leash except the body harness type.
He is the reason that I have Apple Airtags on each of them.
We (our neighborhood) live across from a wooded/swampy piece of land on one side and a bird sanctuary/fen on another. Especially when we’re on the walking path – I make sure I always know exactly where he in and what he’s doing on the leash.
So that’s the crew – I only tell you this so that you have an understanding of their personalities and how they each start their day with me (all of this happens in the dark by the way – Laurie sleeps longer than I do).
After I get out of the shower and get dressed the first one that interacts with me is Charlie. He wakes up but squirming around against me on the bed while I pet him. It’s a mix of stretching and active snuggling against me. I assume he’s also spreading fresh pheromones but he will keep squirming around on the bed until he’s at the end where we have a padded semi-circular bench/storage thing. He jumps onto that and waits for Diesel.
Diesel loves to burrow so he’s always buried in the blankets. He’s also a sound sleeper so I have to uncover his head and vigorously pet him while he yawns. He will spend as much time in this little kid “I don’t WANT to wake up” state as Charlie has spent squirming around. Sometimes he gets up and jumps onto the bench and sometimes I let him be to follow us down in his own time (he never misses a walk so when he hears the leashes moving around he always gets up no matter how much he did or didn’t want to get out of bed initially).
At this point Archer is always just sitting on the bench like a statue. He waits for me to get the other two moving. When I sit next to him the other two are either already on the floor or even downstairs already. Archer likes to take a couple moments where I put an arm around him and gently scritch the top of his head. I enjoy this moment very much. It’s as if he’s feeling something like, “I am independent but I choose to share this moment with you”.
After that things begin to take the shape of a normal day. We all come downstairs, I feed Babou and take my vitamins. Then we go for a walk.
But there’s something about the special time I get to spend with each of them, individually, that I really love.