Why Own a Dog?

Why own a dog?
I mean they can be smelly and annoying.

You have to walk them, feed them, and clean up their doggy doodoos.
They bark, they whine, they can get you out of bed because they have to go potty or some other stupid thing...right?
You have to pay their vet bills, trim their nails, brush them, keep them clean, and vacuum up the house after they've dropped their hair on the floor.
They don't know well enough not to track mud in the house.
Dog food.
Dog barf.
Dog beds.
Are they really worth it?

Oh yes they are.
I can give you 100's of reasons why it is great to own a dog.
Let me give you just one.

It's that dead hour of night and I've just come home from work.
I get out of the car and stretch thinking only of one thing....okay, two.
How tired I am, and how nice going to bed is going to be.
I open the door and step into the back room. There is a night light on but that is it.

From around the corner comes the tap of toenails on linoleum.
Morris arrives. He is my Jack Russell terrier.
He literally acts as though he hasn't seen me in ages.
His stub of a tail wags so hard that his whole back end shifts on the floor.
He pokes me with his nose and puts a paw up. After his greeting he stares intently at the door I just came in.

I smile and let him out so he can go check out my car and properly 'water' my tires. He races back into the house and sits in front of the cabinet that holds Dog Cookies.
He again stares at me intently, do I see a smile and joy reflected in his eyes, or anticipation?

I give him a little dog cookie and he gobbles it up. He pokes me with his nose as if to say,
*Come on, let's get going!*
He trots to the bottom of the stairs and waits.

I methodically turn off the night lights that my husband has left on for me and head in the darkness for the stairs.
Since it is the middle of the night, I will sleep in the spare room so as not to wake my other half and Morris knows this.
For he is waiting next to the bed.
He glances at the bed and at me.
That stub tail is still wagging.

I change and then slowly drag my tired body into bed and as I grab the covers a small furry body launches himself onto the bed.
He noses me in the face and then slides under the covers.
As he positions himself with his back against mine, he sighs...
as though he has waited all night for precisely this moment.

And in the dark, just before I close my eyes, I think how lucky I am to have him greet me like this on these late nights.
I smile.
I sigh.
I fall off to sleep with his warm body next to mine.

So yeah, that is one reason to own a dog.