My dog... Skids

So today I was cleaning up some stuff in the backyard, seems pretty normal. The only difference is the fact that I brought my dog outside with me.

Now to truely understand this blog you have to realize that I really don't like dogs. I don't. I'm a cat type-a-guy. Not like the creepy cat guys that live alone in an apartment and watch the girl change accross the street, but the kind of cat guy with more a sentimental attachment. So you ask yourself, why the hell does he have a dog? Well I'll tell you. My girlfriend is an avide animal lover. Currently we have a dog and two cats. Not including the other three dogs (two of which are puppies) and another cat in the house were I live. My girlfriend saved this dog from its abusive owners and now we have decided to keep it. A decision that I wasn't to keen on. She is growing up to be a beautiful dog, and I am starting to become quite attached to her. Except when she poohs in the house. Then I don't like her very much. So I am slowly trying to like dogs in a house where I don't have much of a choice otherwise. Let me tell you it has been a hard experience, but nonetheless I feel I have been doing ok. So back to my dog story..

As I was cleaning up a tarped off area of a "tenant", lets say, that moved out, my dog was just kind of walking up and down the hill on her long leash sniffing only god knows what and overall seeming to have a great time just being outside. As I was carrying two bins over to the fire pit to empty them I glance over to see if she is eating something she shouldn't be (anyone with puppies know that you have to do that from time to time). As I look over she stops what she is doing and looks over at me and did that dog crouch where they want to play, I don't know if you know what I'm talking about but thats ok. So I slap my knees and run towards her. As soon as I did so I could see her eyes immediatly brighten and we proceeded to play for the next fifteen to twenty minutes. I was having a ball. So I sat down while the dog was getting a well deserved drink and as I was sitting there Skids did something that never happened to me before. After she had finished drinking up the very last drop in her bowl she nudged her nose under my arm and squeezed herself through so I had my arm around her. She proceeded to sit down and stay there with her head nuzzled against my side. I don't know how long we sat there for, just enjoying the day with the sun on our faces and the cool spring breeze lightly brushing our skin. After awhile of soaking up the moment, I look down at my dog skids and she looked up at me. We locked eyes and just kind of stared for a moment. Then without any warning to me she licked my face. Now if there is one thing I don't like about dogs the most, it's slobber. But the weird thing is it didn't matter that time, I just laughed and began to scratch her all over, she jumped up on me and was trying to return the favor with her wet tongue, but I didn't let her (I really don't like slobber). So I stood up scratched her ears a little bit and untied her from the tree. Normally I would immediatly put on her leash and go straight inside, but I had a very different feeling today. I just said, "Come on Skids" and she followed. Perfectly by my side, as we went up the stairs, she reached the first landing first, then she sat down and patiently waited for me until I had gotten up there. The same with the top of the stairs. As I reached the top I noticed she was looking outside as though she was reminising on what had just happened, that or she saw a chipmunk or the like. Either way as went inside and I filled up her water dish she sat beside me not moving until I put it down for her to drink.

So now here I sit, telling you all about this. Why does it have so much importance? Because I now feel that me and Skids have made a connection. We are finally "intune" with one another and respect each other, and can truely be companions now. We have finally seperated that barrier of your a dog and I'm a human. We are friends and she understands that I am the alpha in the relationship, I can only hope that my girlfriend has had this same connection, which I think she has. I say I'm not a dog person, and as a taurus I'm not to adept to change, but hey, maybe this is one thing I can give a little leeway.