Who let the dawgs out

Dogs are a man's best friend. Right? Right.

I have a dog, named Zeke. He is one of those fancy designer dogs, half pug, half beagle, cleverly dubbed a puggle. He's got the cute curled pug tail, the pug coloring, and the sleeping habits of the pug. From the beagle, he got his wonderfully ear-piercing bark, the floppy ears, and hyperactive personality. Zeke has a mix of the pug's smushed, "I just ran into a glass window" snout and the beagle's normal snout. 

As cute and adorable as he is now, he was even more adorable as a puppy. And a lot less annoying. When he weighed only five pounds and was only a foot tall, he could do a lot less destruction. Now, he is a little punk. He gets into the trash can, eating whatever will fit in his mouth. He'll roll all over beds, shedding everywhere. He'll destroy clothing that actually gets left lying around.

Recently, my grandmother's dog has been staying with us. She's a teenager in human years, meaning she's an old, old lady in dog years. An adorable little shih tzu dog, with a big fluffy white coat and short little dumpling legs. Compared to my brat of a dog, she's an angel. She's half blind and deaf as a rock. But she's the sweetest thing ever. She lies around, looks the happiest ever when her "mommy" shows up, and never eats any type of trash. 

It's weird to think, but this is just an example of how even dogs have personalities. My dog, the stupid punk, is like a toddler, never growing up, never learning from his mistakes. My grandmother's dog is like a wise little old grandmother, observing all that goes on, but never involving herself. It sometimes seems strange that our dogs are their own little "people" too, with different habits and mannerisms. But they are, and that's why we love them. 

Despite my little Zeke's childishness, I still love him; that moment when he snuggles up to me before going to sleep, his overly excited tail wagging whenever I walk through the front door, even after just taking out the trash. We can all learn from dogs. We learn what exactly unconditional love is and we in turn, learn how to love unconditionally. Even after that SoB peed on the carpet and threw up, after cleaning it up, that punk will run up to you all happy-like, without a care in the world, and you'll just give up. That pooch is just too adorable, and you'll love it no matter if it even killed the Muppets.