Somethin' about nothin'

Let me just start out by saying that I love dogs, big dogs. I have dreamed about owning a Great Dane, and who wouldn't? They are gorgeous gentle giants...okay, unless you're a small child and standing between this massive dog and it's bone. Can you picture it?

Many years ago a stray chihuahua came into our lives and my daughter was in love. Now, keep in mind, the first time I saw this little dog my initial thought was that she's got to be the ugliest thing I'd ever laid eyes on. I mean hey, she's no Great Dane. She was thin, 1/2 bald, and has buggy eyes, bat ears, long spindly chicken legs, rat feet, and moles on her face. This to me sounds more like a character out of a bad children's cartoon and not like my vision of our next family pet.

We searched everywhere for the owners. We posted ads, looked in the papers, checked with the local vets, pet stores, and the SPCA. No one had responded. I sat down next to her in a bit of a huff and there she was, looking at me with those big buggy eyes of hers, batting her lashes, and letting out a very faint whine. It was as if she was pleading with me to let her stay. I continued looking at her and thought, she's not so bad. She's actually a very sweet dog, and my daughter adores her. I looked away. What am I thinking? I look down again, but this time I see something different. This time I see her personality, not the ugly dog that I saw before. Suddenly she was cute, funny, cuddly, sweet, fun, easy to control when excited, easy to bathe (hold her under the faucet with one hand), quiet. Where was all of this coming from? Why was this new view taking shape? Am I getting soft in my old age? I mean, who really wants to be pegged as a Paris Hilton wannabe, toting a small dog around. We don't live in L.A. where there's some insane idea that a dog is a fashion statement. And come on, it's not like she plays fetch. She's almost part cat. You give her a blanket to burrow in and she's happy for hours.

After arguing with myself for quite some time, I eventually came to realize that I too was smitten. This once ugly duckling of a dog had blossomed into a beautiful 7lb chihuahua. So what if this blossoming change took place in my head. To me it was real. And so now I sit here on my couch with a small lump under the blanket next to me. I hear an occasional small sigh sing out from the blanket and I pat the lump to reassure her that I'm still near by. How did we end up with a chihuahua again? It's easy. We found her a home.