Dogless

We had dogs for twenty-five years – first a black lab mix that we had for twelve years, then after a very brief period, a full-bred Siberian Husky that we had for thirteen years. It’s been a couple of years now since Fiona passed, and we still don’t have a dog. People ask if we’re going to get a new dog, and the short answer is no (the longer answer is a stretched out no with more o’s in the no, like this: “Noooooo”).

I miss having a dog. I never minded getting up in the morning and walking the dog, or getting home to walk the dog in the evening. I wish that dogs understood the concept of sleeping in on the weekends, but in truth I’m generally up early anyway. I miss the companionship of dogs, and occasionally go nuts when I see a particularly cute dog. If I really need a dog fix, I can go to my sister-in-laws to be with Benny.

Why we haven’t gotten a dog is freedom. We can now travel without figuring out what we need to do with the dog. We don’t have to cut our nights short (although we’ve also lost our leave early excuse – “we have to get back to our dog” was very convenient). We can go somewhere overnight on a whim (although we never do that) and not have to worry about parking the dog somewhere.

We do talk about getting another dog – after retirement. We’re already arguing about what dog we’ll get (Kate wants a small dog, while I want a real dog). BUt until our life becomes more sedentary, we’ll remain dogless.

If you have dog, good for you. When you’re out walking your dog, take some music with you. On today’s podcast, you can hear Barrett Strong, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, the Animals, Sam Samudio, Jarvis Cocker, Squeeze, the Undertones, Radio Birdman, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Antibalas, and Fela Kuti.

This podcast is available to stream or download at http://brennick.net. It’s now also available on iTunes – it’s called brennick.net (couldn’t figure out how to change the name – there you go). Thank you for taking the time to stream or download this podcast, or any of the other podcasts which are all still available at the site. Please leave comments and suggestions (I do read the comments), and share this with other like-minded friends. Thank you.