The Galbraith Family: Georgia On My Mind...

Our baby girl turned a year old this week. That's right! As of April 28th, we have officially been dog owners for one year. Anyone that knows me will recognize this as quite a feat! Don't get me wrong, I don't hate dogs. I even view many of them as cute. However, I have never felt the need to have one in MY house. Through some freak of nature, my boys are both animal lovers. They begged for a pet for years. When Alex was 6, we got him a fish. This bought us a year of respite, but apparently fish can't be cuddled. So, we promised him a dog for his 10th birthday...who knew it would arrive so dang fast?

Georgia Kate (if I had had a girl, this was a serious name contender) was a Craig's List find. The free kind. She was so sweet and subdued as a puppy. It's was a trick. Kind of like a newborn baby that is so breathtakingly precious...until he keeps you up all night! As she grew and developed a personality, she began to show signs of mental instability. Even our friends referred to her as psycho puppy. She growled and bit for no apparent reason. Not little puppy nips, but full fledged skin piercing bites. The boys (the same boys that had BEGGED for this pet) were now scared of her. They would scream like little girls and stand on the couch when Georgia entered a room. Our vet shook his head and told us, "She probably isn't the ideal first pet, but she sure is cute." Whatever!

I was ready to throw in the towel. I wanted to sell her to the gypsies and tell the boys we made a tragic mistake. House training was a nightmare. The shedding made every fiber in my germaphobe-body cringe. I couldn't leave the house for extended periods of time without worrying about returning to mayhem and madness. Nope! Dog ownership was not for me!

Fortunately for the boys, Russ developed a strong affinity for Miss Georgia Kate. He became her court appointed advocate. After explaining to her that foster care was a real possibility, she grew to love the outdoors and began listening to the authority in his voice (I think my voice just wreaked of panic and disgust!). Don't get me wrong...she's still a few bricks shy of a load. She's still not the cuddler we envisioned (seriously, the fish would have been a better candidate). And she still hops around like a rabbit on speed. When she runs to greet you, it feels more like an attack...and not friendly fire. She is still prone to random growling. We think it's the voices in her head. On the flip side, she doesn't bite for sport anymore and she has even learned a few tricks. She can sit, shake and speak. Of course, she will only perform for bologna or bacon treats, but we accept her limitations!

While Georgia and I still need a bit of therapy to work out the kinks in our relationship, I can honestly say that she is now a part of our family. The boys LOVE her and actually do take care of her. They play with her after school every day and clean up most of her messes. They claim that she is "the cutest and sweetest dog ever." I think that is stretching it a bit, but love is blind! And we really do love her...