Jack of All Trades

â€Å"Mom can I have a dog? † I cannot tell you how many times those six words came out of my mouth, almost everyday since about second grade I asked my mom for a puppy. Once when I was in fifth grade, my mom let me take home one of my aunt's dog's puppies. But at the end of the day she made me take it back. I was so close to getting what I had wanted for years. I had named the dog and everything, and as you can tell it still upsets me to this day. You're probably thinking, â€Å"Eh, every child wants a dog or some sort of pet, it's really not that serious. Oh but it was, I became obsessed with the idea of a puppy, every time I saw someone else with a new puppy or even an older dog I became jealous to the point of tears. It's not like I never had a dog, when I was born we had two, Buster, and Sheena. But they both died of old age by the time I was seven. We also had cats, and birds, and fish. But all of a sudden there was nothing left, it was me, my mom, and my dad, being an only child was always hard, but at least I had my animals to keep me company. Yeah, yeah, here it comes, being an only child isn't hard, you're spoiled, you get everything you want, and tons of attention. But have you ever thought of the hardships of being the only thing your parents have to focus on, or maybe the not having anyone to play with, you can only play dress up and school with yourself for so long before it gets extremely boring. Okay but I'm getting off topic, actually I've kind of been rambling on about nothing for the last couple of sentences, but I promise this will all have a point. My freshman year of high school, I began having a lot of issues with being alone, and not having anyone to talk to or keep me company. I began to struggle with my schoolwork, and everything began to spin out of control. I met James, he was amazing, but that's a completely different story for a completely different time and space. Now the wanting of a dog had kind of went away for a little, but now in my time of loneliness, and need, I think my mom finally realized how much I truly not only wanted but needed a dog to keep me company, because that year around my birthday my mom began to talk of getting a dog, (it might have also been because Simone's mom let her have a dog, and my mom felt bad because that's all I could talk about, so thanks Sandy. So we talked about getting a dog, and decided on a female Jack Russell, oh my, we were not aware of what we were getting into. We were told numerous times that these dogs were crazy, but we just said it couldn't be that bad, all puppies are hyper. We planned to keep her in a squared-off area in the basement, oh boy, were we mistaken. We ordered her from a farm in Missouri, the breeder seemed nice, and told us that she had a lot of energy, we got her at eight weeks, the breeder had named her Kayla, but we knew from the pictures that this name was just unbefitting. We decided on either naming her Sage or Zoi, and the second we picked her up from the airport we knew Zoi was the perfect name for her, she ran out of her crate right into my arms, while all the other puppies were hiding in the back corner of their crates, afraid of their new owners. It was raining but she wasn't afraid, the entire walk to the car she wiggled and squirmed eager to see everyone and everything around her. That first night, Simone and I figured it'd be a good idea to sleep downstairs with her, just in case, but we were in for a rude awakening, quite literally, she whined and cried every minute she was alone. Simone and I ended up staying up the entire night with her; this squared off corner in the basement was just not enough for this tiny little dog. The next night we tried keeping her in her crate, then a bigger cage, needless to say neither worked and she now sleeps in bed with my mom and dad. This dog was a handful; she chewed on everything, dirty underwear being her favorite snack. Her energy never seemed to end. She jumped played and barked all day, she was a very happy dog. Yet it just seemed like she was lonely, she carried this tiny stuffed puppy with her everywhere, and carried chew toys over to her favorite stuffed tiger. She'd whine and cry when it wouldn't play with them, maybe it was our imaginations, but it just seemed that the only way to tame her energy was to get her a companion. First we looked at the pound, but decided anything bigger might just hurt Zoi, so we ended up on the search for another Jack Russell, this time a male. We looked and looked, the first one we decided on ended up being sold already, so we finally decided on another dog, he was from Texas, and named KC. He came from a puppy mill, and when we got him he just didn't seem right, we were worried. At the airport we expected him to run right out into our arms like Zoi, but that's not quite what happened. He hid in the corner of his crate and cried, he seemed so afraid, we walked him to the car and I cuddled him in my arms, it was late, almost midnight, and I was worried how him and Zoi would react to each other. He didn't seem like a social type dog. When we got him home and put him down, he wiggled and squirmed, him and Zoi sniffed each other and from that second they were inseparable, but Dash (which is what we named him, after a character in the Disney movie, The Incredibles,) just still wasn't right, he had a swollen bee sting on his arm, and after taking him to the vets we discovered he had three different typed of worms in his belly. His nickname had been Wiggle-Butt, how appropriate. He was incredibly unhealthy, and we were thankful that we had saved him from that place he had called a home, no wonder he was so afraid. It was strange that these two dogs that were said to be the same exact breed were so completely different, but maybe that's why they got along so well. After Dash was nursed back to health, he slowly began to come out of his shell. These dogs were a handful alone, but together, oh my. Zoi was clearly the boss, and she let it be known. There were times when she beat the living daylights out of him, but he still followed her around, and whined and cried when she was gone. Dash was quite the interesting dog, he'd growl and bark at other people and dogs, but then run and hide behind you if you put him down. The two would chase each other around in circles around the house and yard, it's like they both had this endless amount of energy, I couldn't imagine Zoi would have lasted long at any other household. She ate everything, beat up Dash, ran away, jumped all over people, and scratched like crazy. Once we got Dash and Zoi, it was like having newborn babies, we had baby gates in every doorway, so that they couldn't get in and chew things, you couldn't open the door without holding them back or you would be in for a jog. Every time they got out it was a good twenty-minute journey to get them back. They'd run up to everyone that was outside, bark at other dogs, run into everyone's yard, and you'd have to jump and dive in order to catch them, it is not a fun thing to do. My favorite story would have to be the time my little cousin let Zoi out and my 40-year-old uncle chased her around in the January snow, eventually jumping, sliding, and diving only to miss her by an inch. These dogs were quite the handful. Nobody could come into the house without being jumped all over, and barked at. And you couldn't leave if you didn't give Zoi her treat first. Actually you still can't. You think after two years she'd be a lot calmer, well she's a little calmer. We tried obedience classes, yeah did not work to well, actually now she'll sit, bark, and play dead on command†¦ but other than that†¦ yeah. A few months after we first got them, we went away on vacation. We left Dash and Zoi with a family friend who raised and watched dogs for a living. I remember him saying, â€Å"Oh, I'll have her trained by the time you get back. † Yeah, not so much. Not even the man who watched ten dogs a day, could tame her. He's raised tens of dogs from puppies, all his dogs listen to his every command, but not Zoi, she'd run around take stuff, even beat up the larger dogs. The second we got back home we went to pick up our puppies, and you could tell that Jay (the man that had watched them) had had quite the time watching those two. He couldn't get rid of them quick enough. Zoi loves the water, but Dash is afraid of it. Zoi will jump right in the pool and swim around but Dash wouldn't go near it for anything. Zoi jumps in and climbs right out. She chases the hose when my dad is watering the lawn, tries to eat the backwash water from the pool. Another thing that she loves to chase is the vacuum, Dash once again is afraid, but Zoi chases and barks like always. Sometimes, they're too predictable. Another one of my favorites is when Zoi decides to take things for ransom. Her favorite I think is the remote control for the television. I can't tell you how many times I've seen her running around with that remote in her mouth waiting for her treat. It's not like she really wanted it, she'd drop it in front of you as soon as you reached for the bone box. And of course Dash reaps the benefits, so I think he encourages her to steal things. But after all of this, the second you sit down on the couch, or lay down in bed, they're both right there, lying on your lap. Dash will nudge and nudge until you let him under the blanket. They love, love, love to cuddle. Which is good, because so do I. They keep you warm in the winter, which is good since Zoi chewed the wire to the heater on the blanket, and the couch, so neither work. Okay two crazy dogs†¦ the point of this is? I'm getting to it, I'm getting to it, promise. These dogs have actually kept me sane. I'd have the longest day ever, but I know I could come home and have two amazing dogs jumping on me and kissing me. No matter what I need, I can turn to my dogs, if I need to play, or just cuddle. Zoi is like the dog version of me she can be hyper, loud, loving, all at once. She'll be angry one minute and kissing and loving you the next. She can't stay mad, kind of like me. Having these two amazing dogs has kept me sane. I'm no longer alone and bored all the time. They may be a pain sometimes fighting to leave in the morning, eating underwear, stealing socks and remotes. But I know at the end of the day I have two creatures that love me unconditionally.