This Is My Puppy

I read an article about a study that proved that dogs have favorite loveys, just like children. My lovey was a white baby blanket with a mother duck and three baby ducks. Sadly it was burned in the charcoal grill on the day I went to kindergarten. (don’t ask as that is only part of the story of my most traumatic day of my young life.)

Shay’s lovey is this small blue dog. It used to be a larger blue dog, but after destroying three of them we no longer could replace them as they were not made anymore. Perhaps her large blue dog union put their foot down after Shay systematically removed 12 legs.

Shay was quite despondent when her last large blue dog was regulated to the toy basket as flat blue furry carcasses without squeakers and limbs. Russ searched high and low and found these smaller blue dogs and Shay seemed to like them just as much. Russ brilliantly would always buy them in groups of two or four to ensure there was always a blue dog available.

When given a new dog Shay gently carries it around and uses it as a pillow to sleep on, sometimes for months on end, without doing a bit of harm to her beloved. Then, without known cause, Shay will decide it is time to unstitch a seam and remove the squeaker. Then a leg will go, perhaps a tail. She still likes the body as a pillow, but eventually she will remove all the stuffing so the pillow potential is gone.

Then, as if she knows all royals get whatever they want, she looks at Russ and gestures to the limp blue body saying, “It’s time for a new blue dog.” Miraculously one appears. She loves it, carries it around, sleeps on it, only to coddle it into submission. Poor blue dog never knows how long it has. Only Shay knows the answer.