My Dog, Pinto

I really do not like dogs. They are slobbery, messy, and smelly. The things they chew up are unrecognizable afterward. There is no love lost between me and them. I do not like dogs.

Except we have one. She's a Catahoula, a breed of dog that Brian has wanted to own for a long time. Not only is she a high-energy dog, but she's a puppy as well. A six-month old puppy who weighs over 40 pounds. A six-month old puppy who currently weighs over 40 pounds and will end weighing between 70-90 pounds. It seems like madness to have a dog this big. And to have a dog this big in the house.

She is named Pinto (Bean) after a fun song I learned in high school:

My dog Pinto likes to roam,
One day Pinto left his home.
He came back, quite unclean,
Where o where has Pinto been?
Pinto Bean, Pinto Bean
Where o where has Pinto been?

The girls actually named her Pinto because, I believe, they love that silly song where we try to think of all the beans we can.

Honestly, I don't really mind her being in the house when she's not terrorizing the girls, eating whatever she stealthily snatches from rooms or peeing on the floor. I wish she wouldn't dig up the yard and then make dog tracks all over the recently cleaned, very beige living room carpet with her muddied paws. I wish she wouldn't eat systematically destroy shoes (at least 5 pair so far). The girls are upset about the complete desecration of many of their books. Including Darcy's Bible. Nothing left but confetti. I am grossed out by her licking the table edges and booster seats. And it's not that she terrorizes the girls on purpose, but a girl that is 40 pounds of skin and bones is no match for a 40 pound dog, made up of pure muscle.

It's really not Pinto's fault. It started out okay when she first got here. She was docile, never peed on the floor and never tore up a single thing. It was only after a 10-day trip to Houston where she spent most of her time caged up that things started going awry. As soon as we all got back home, she has made a point to let us know she was not happy. Brian hasn't had much time to exercise her, which she needs about an hour a day, because of the outage. Even if I wanted to, which I don't, I cannot walk her and attend to the 3 kids that are here during the day. As my previous post reported, I am stretched thin as it is.

All of this seems like shades of Mocha, our last dog. Mocha was a Boston terrier. What in the world were we thinking? I don't like dogs, and therefore, I don't know anything about the breeds and who's hyper and who's not. I don't know what's a good dog for kids and what kind of dog might eat them. Mocha jumped on everyone who walked in through the door and if that wasn't enough, she peed on their feet, too. She would climb on my table and scratch it up with her nails. The daughter we bought the dog for, was terrified of her. I could not stand that dog. I wanted a cat. I still want a cat. Our lives seem to be too busy for a dog who needs an hour of exercise every day. I'd rather have a cat who will entertain herself, poop in a box and leave me alone. Is that too much to ask?

Once Brian gets done with the outage and isn't working 12 hours a day, he'll have more time to devote to Pinto and that will make everyone a whole lot happier, especially Mama. Because when Mama ain't happy....