Snoopy and Me...when Kyle is gone

To serve as reminder to anyone not in my family who reads this, or anyone who happens upon the treasure trove of random thoughts, inspirations, and occasional nonsense, Snoopy is our 7 or 8 (we think) year old pointer/lab mutt that Kyle and I got from the humane society several weeks after we got married. He is ridiculously adorable and pathetic, frustrating and endearing, all in one slender 50 pound, black and white package. We started with an older dog to "break in" Kyle. I have always grown up with dogs around me. We had big dogs, my family had big dogs. No offense to those people who have small dogs, but they just do not qualify as "dogs" to me. I like ones that are larger than my cats (well, my mom's cats, but either way, both of whom are over 15 pounds). Kyle on the other hand, had a dog for a very brief segment of time and then none. Advantages of getting an older dog include that they are already trained on the basics: house trained, basic commands, etc. Older dogs also tend to be calmer so, in our case, it is a great advantage to those still in an apartment and don't have a backyard for the dog to take out all of his energy. It also helps with extending the duration of one's furniture. Puppies like to chew everything.

ANYWAY...
Snoopy got to stay with my parents while Kyle and I went on a trip to Colorado to see Kyle's family. Snoopy loves staying with my parents. I think this is two fold: 1. They live on a farm so he gets to run like a puppy free of any boundaries to the point that he limps around for the next week; and 2. my mom is a sucker with him (sorry momma...you know it's true!) We were in Colorado for 9 days and while we were out there, Kyle learns that he is going to have to turn right back around for a 2 week business trip. I come home, pick up Snoopy but at this point he hasn't seen Kyle in almost 3 weeks. It may sound odd to some, but he is all out of sorts when Kyle isn't home. He'll lie by the door waiting for him. He'll look at me like I'm forgetting something when I say we're going to bed before Kyle has shown up...He is just very out of sorts.

Most recently Snoopy has taken up a very needy persona. He'll be stuck to me and when I sit down to do some work, he'll sit right next to me and start to whine. It's very bizarre. It's similar to how he acts if we haven't taken him out for a walk and he really needs to go...but in this case, it's for absolutely no reason.

Needless to say, I am grateful that Kyle will be home as of tomorrow to put my dog at ease with the world.