Today is National Dog Day so I'm celebrating with my three dogs while the kids are at school and my wife is at work. That makes this an interesting situation because I'm here with the dogs but I never wanted to have a dog as a pet. Here's what happened: about ten years ago we went to visit my sister and her dog had a few puppies that my kids fell in love with. They were cute because they were puppies, but I knew better because the dad was a hairless Chinese Crested and the mom was some wire-haired terrier. Gross. Somehow though when it was time to leave I got into the car and there was a (yes, cute) puppy on my seat along with four kids giving me puppy eyes to keep him. That's how Cody came into our lives. Luckily he didn't turn out as creepy/ugly as I thought he would.

They say that dogs can change your life and Cody definitely did. My kids loved playing with him and fighting over who's bed he would sleep in each night. We actually now have a calendar to keep track of who's turn it is. About three years ago we decided old dog Cody needed a buddy so we adopted Bruce. My wife was going through some hard times after her dad died and working through college classes and it turns out Bruce was a very chill dog and honestly more of a help to my wife than to the other dog. Sadly, last year Bruce died. I never would have admitted that I liked that dog as much as I did and I bawled like a baby when he died. No matter how much you fight it, dogs really do bring a level of support and joy into a home.

I mentioned we currently have three dogs. Cody is still around and a few months after the death of Bruce we decided we wanted to get a big dog since our other dogs had been small ones. My wife found a big dog, a mix of Poodle and Mastiff, and we named her Omega. But we call her Meg for short and we call her the Megladog when she is running around destroying things because she doesn't realize how big she is. Then a few months ago my wife found out that Bruce's parents had more puppies and she could not pass on adopting one of his siblings. That's where surprise dog number three comes in.

Ivy looks similar to Bruce which is great for our family to have a new pup but also a reminder of Bruce. But Ivy is the opposite personality of Bruce. Ivy is insane and Bruce was chill. Still, Ivy is perfect for our family and I'll admit that I even like her. It's also really entertaining to watch her, at seven pounds, play battle with Meg who now weighs 110 pounds.

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RIP Bruce The Dog

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