MY DOG

When we got our first dog, we got a Basset because my husband had always wanted a Basset and instead his parents bought him a Beagle thinking a kid would not notice the difference, I think. He did.
Always he wanted a Basset.
When I met him his girlfriend had a Basset. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

This is how we ended up with Bassets. We started with one and now have 3 and are down in numbers from 4 Bassets.
And then came the Belgians. Because I wanted a dog for memememe. One that could do obedience (Bwaahaahahahah) and other doggy things with me. One that was trainable.
So there have been Belgians. And the Belgians are MY dogs. The Bassets are too, make no mistake. But the Belgians, with their long legs and instant response time, they're MY dogs.

So now I have Cooper. And someplace a couple of years ago, after Mitchell and Zelda died, we got Conley. A Basset. Definitely a Basset. But Cooper was MY dog. He travels with me. He goes in the Van with me. He goes to the Gallery with me.

He's my boy. He's my sunshine. He's my protector, my companion, my soul.

Except that nobody told Conley.

And he decided that he was MY dog.
He slept next to my bed. He slept under my desk when I was working. He sits in the kitchen when I cook. He is the first to greet me, shoving all the others aside including Cooper, now that he only has three legs and isn't quite as agile as he used to be.
I never told Conley he was MY dog. Nigel loves John, loves to sit on his lap, loves his chair, is the first to say hello to him when he comes home. Llewis loves everyone sort of, in a strange, Llewis kind of way.

I make a lot of room for Cooper. I take him wherever I can. He loves the Gallery and goes with me there. Today I went to the Gallery without Cooper, just for a brief business huddle with Pat, and when I came home, John said Conley cried at the window the entire time I was gone. Uh Oh.
Conley cannot go to the Gallery until Cooper is gone. The Gallery is Cooper's place to be with me, without the others. Do not think for one moment that Cooper is unaware of Conley's efforts to usurp my affections. Raised hackles and nasty insults are commonplace from both. Eyeballing. Posturing.

Cooper will always be MY dog, until the day he dies. Conley may suspect this is true, Cooper knows it is. I am just not sure Conley knows who is watching.