My Boo

I'm such an animal lover. Dogs are my favorite, but I think birds and rabbits and goats are nice too. I guess I don't love ALL animals, because sharks and grizzly bears and other animals that can tear my flesh off the bone scare me, but I don't put myself in situations where I might encounter them. I try to stick with animals that have sweet, friendly eyes.

I grew up in rural Nebraska so I've had animals as long as I can remember. We had dogs, cats, fish, parakeets, geese, sheep, horses, and - for a week or two - even some baby racoons that my dad rescued from a field that he was plowing. He noticed the young uns in time. But we didn't know how to take care of them properly, so they ended up getting diarrhea from either food or shelter negligence on our part and they all died. I was probably ten at the time but it still haunts me. I can't handle being responsible for the peril of an animal. That's probably why I'm so protective of Sophie (above right). She's my boo. I've always called her that, and then Usher came out with that song and made it sound like I was dating Sophie. I am enamored with her, that much is true.

Sophie is an 8 year old miniature schnauzer. I found the ad for Sophie in the Austin American Statesman one Saturday morning while I was at work at a radio station in Austin in 1996 and I called the owners immediately and told them I would be by right after work. It was one of those 6am-noon shifts which seemed long on a normal day, but knowing that I could go pick up my puppy when it was over made it ten times longer. It finally ended. When I got to the owner's house, Sophie was the only puppy left, and she was hiding underneath a huge coffee table and didn't want to come out. I guess nobody wanted a quiet, shy dog. She was six weeks old, and the cutest thing I had ever seen. She's a salt and pepper schnauzer and she's silver now, but when she was born she was black with a lot of fuzzy blond hair, especially around her ears. And the puppy breath! I love that. She didn't seem too thrilled with me at first, but I picked her up and rubbed my face against her fuzzy blond ears and promised to take good care of her, and that seemed to make me tolerable. Then we went to Petsmart and bought food and toys, and I think that helped her realize that I was friend and not foe. But she whimpered in the car on the way home, and just about every night for the first two weeks. Gradually she came out of her shell.

But oh she used to stress me out! Anytime she saw an open door she would take off like a bolt of lightning, and I would end up chasing her down the block, yellling frantically for her to listen to the voice of reason and come back to mama. I would eventually catch up with her and I would be out of breath and my heart would be in my throat, and she would look at me like, "What? I just needed some air. It was just a harmless little stroll." Whatever. There were speeding cars nearby. One time she stayed with a friend of mine, and after I returned from out of town and picked Sophie up, I found out she had gotten loose and she ran across Brodie Lane in South Austin, which would be the equivalent of Inwood or Midway in Dallas. I can't even stand the thought. But she eventually outgrew the desire to run away, and now she mostly just sprawls out on the floor and chews on her "happy bone."

Sophie is not the only miniature schnauzer we have. Shame on me for going on and on about her and neglecting the other two. Pierre is 9 (far right in the picture of all three), and I gained custody of him after a breakup. He was abused before I met him so he used to be angry, aggressive, and leary of everyone who wanted to pet him, but he has mellowed and now he's a big teddy bear. Marlee Bean is 5 (middle in the picture of all three), and Angela and I got her in Austin after we moved from an apartment to a house and had enough space for three dogs. Beanie is the sassiest and most obnoxious of the three. Unlike Sophie, she was outgoing from the beginning. She wasn't hiding underneath a coffee table when we went to pick her up. Instead, she was standing on her two back legs with her front paws gripping the cardboard ring that the owners had set up, and she said "Brrr" immediately upon seeing us like, "Finally! Take me home dammit." There's not a shy bone in her body. There are lots of bossy ones, but no timid ones.

I love these pups. I would love to have more dogs, but Angela has forbidden it. She's the smart, sensible one and I'm the big pile of schnauzer mush who makes no effort keep them off of my lap while we're watching movies, or keep them off the bed when we sleep. They snuggle up next to me and keep the blankets tight, and I love it. Surely we could handle three more. From left to right here are my boos: Sophie, Marlee Bean, and Pierre. They're not thrilled about the photo opp.