pretty as a picture (for dog lover's only)

Oprah Magazine September 2013

My hostess for my stay in Los Angelos last spring said to me and my traveling companion as she toured us through the house: I know the dogs won't bother you Carol. Huh? How did she get the idea that I like dogs? I only ever owned a cat in my adult life, and I have been quite enthusiastic in that ownership ... but dogs?

I like dogs when they are across the street. I say to myself when I see a cute dog, or a big dog, or a dog with a cute guy as an owner: oh, that's a nice puppy. Yes, I call all dogs, puppies. Someone corrected me last week on the street that their dog was not a puppy. Okay. I call them all that.

When I was four, I was attacked by a giant dog. That's all I have to say. When I recall the attack now, I"m thinking that it probably wasn't a really big dog as I was four. And it probably didn't attack me as it more likely came up to sniff me. So the attack may be an exaggeration, but for a four year old, a dog the same size as I was and a sniff ... well, you can see how I might have been a little, shall I say, put off by the beasts.

And with that sniffing ... I can't hate a dog for doing it because I am sort of a human sniffer. My sniffer doesn't always work due to allergies and whatnot, but when I can sniff, I like to do it. I sniff flowers. Light scented candles. Spray perfume. And I'm even good with the not so flowery or spiced scents. It's all good. So I actually, you could say, have something in common with the dogs.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed having my friend's dog up in my grill. They were little dogs. I think that they are more ... manageable. And I loved playing the tug o' war game with them. I am competative, and I did score how many times I could wrassle the chew toy away from the dog. And I gloated: oh puppy, it's me 3, you 2.

I have decided that in my retirement when I live in a little cottage at the edge of the wood with a lake view and a typewriter at the ready, I will welcome a puppy into my home. And when I saw this article (honestly, I didn't read it ... I think that the pictures said it all) in Oprah, I caught that the dog featured was giving me a knowing look. Yeah, he/she is thinking, it was only a matter of time before the puppies caught your attention. Sly dog.