Celebrating the Ordinary: Me and Clara (My Adopted Dog)

When my first son Nicholas was two years old Tom and I decided we/he needed a dog. Because every boy needs a dog right?

And I LOVE dogs.

We had a house and a yard and a son... what more could you possibly need?

So the decision was made in about 10 seconds. The conversation lasting this long,

Me:"Tom, we should get a dog."

Tom:"That's a great idea."

Me: "Let's get a Great Pyrenees."

Tom:"Perfect, I will look in the newspaper for one right now."

Now I grew up with Great Pyrenees. I had two named Napoleon and De gaulle. They are such amazing animals. I still can't walk by one without sticking my nose in their fur. They all smell the same and it smells like my childhood with a dose of wet fur.

They are fiercely loyal and love their family. They are calm, devoted and well-mannered.

So when it was time to pick the breed it was decided in the 10 seconds we decided to get the dog.

These are the things in my haste that I did not even begin to think about.

Like OMG that long hair...White no less.

The fact that many have wet mouths and slobber everywhere. I mean fling it Beethoven (the movie) style.

They are huge!!!! Like ours got up to 185 lbs. 165 lbs usually but still....

There is a lot of ramifications of a dog that size...from health to how in the crap do you get him in the car?

Also, that is a lot of dog food and the cost of grooming etc. etc.

You get the idea...we just didn't think it through.

We picked him in the mountains of Colorado a couple of hours away from our Denver home.

We were in love. He was the perfect fluff ball.

We named him King Louis the thirteenth who made the Great Pyrenees the dog of his court.

(No fact checking here)

We called him Louie and he was perfection.

We loved him so very much and in fact anyone that ever met Louie fell in love instantly. My brother in law wrote a friggin song about him called "Big Lou" after he passed.

He was really special.

My husband spent hours upon hours training him and he was soooo good. They had such an incredible bond I could still cry over it.

As our family grew Louie was the ever patient big fur brother with our 3 kids riding on him, laying on him, smacking his nose and constantly pulling his hair. He never gave all their shenanigans a second thought and just looked at them with these kind eyes that seemed to say, "I got you, don't worry." He herded them constantly because that was his real job and bonked them with his nose when they didn't fall into line like they were supposed to. Giggles and laughter with an occasional bark was constant in our backyard. He made the move to California with us and as we settled in our Louie was with us.

He was our loving friend until his last breathe at only 9 years old.

The pain of losing that big dog was unbearable. We loved him so much. And my kids learned their first lesson in loss. It nearly killed me as I would tuck them in at night with huge tears running down their face, answering questions about where their Louie was. And why he didn't live with us anymore.

Fast forward like 12 years.

We haven't had a dog since.

We had a cat Dave who we all LOVED so much but we will share the cat and a million other fish, hamsters, rats, bunnies stories for another time. We will keep this strictly about dogs.

Now in those 12 or so years I have talked about wanting a dog with my daughter almost every day. No I'm not kidding...we looked up breeds and talked about breeds. Then we would go to Carmel that has 1000 dogs on the beach and look and ask about those breeds. haha It was slightly ridiculous. But I could never pull the trigger. I guess if I'm being honest with myself as much as I loved Lou he was really hard and I was gearing up for that. I have been so busy with the kids I couldn't imagine another Louie in it. I also took care of my sister in laws maltese all the time. But it wasn't the same and we still talked on the daily about a dog.

Then I was reading one of my favorite blogs For the Love of a house and came across her sweet girls adoption story. Something completely shifted and I knew right then and there I was going to adopt a full grown dog that needed a home and I completely stopped looking at puppies. It felt sooo good and sooo right in where I am in my life. The idea of giving a dog a loving home....it just make me so stinking happy.

So about 5 months ago my sister in law told me about her friend that was having to give her 5 year old boxer rottweiler mix Kona away.

Yep exactly.

So around the middle of May.... Clara joined our family. Because I couldn't say Kona and Clara is adorable (Ella came up with it and she named Dave BTW). Bonus she didn't even know we changed her name because the beginning and the end sounds the same.

The love I have for this animal is ridiculous.

She is my best friend. Clara is at my feet right now.

She runs or hikes with me everyday. She runs errands with me. She has a piece of my heart that I didn't even know was missing until she showed up.

I love her so much and I miss her when she is not around.

She puts her paws on my shoulders and gives me hugs.

Do I sound pathetic...I already know I do because everyone in the family points it out all.the.time but I don't care.

Animals are like that.

They are loyal and they don't talk back. They are always happy to see us and they ignore all our flaws. She looks at me with heart eyes and to be so adored is a healthy dose of joy every single day. I am so grateful that Joan at for the love of a house pointed me in this direction. Who by the way also gave me some great tips on making the transition easier. She is a total sweetheart!

So thank you Joan and Gina (Her first mom) for giving me such a wonderful friend!!

And if anyone reads this.... really consider adopting an adult dog. It has made all the difference for me.

This is the day we got her