Do You Have A 'Clearance Puppy'?

For the last day of 2008, while my husband and teenage son were on the first row in the end zone watching Vanderbilt play against Boston College in the Music City Bowl, I took my teenage girls to a movie. We decided to watch Marley & Me in the Governors Square Mall off Wilma Rudolph Blvd. I had heard that the ending was sad, so I didn’t really want to go see this one but we did.

I was pleasantly surprised by a crazy, insane dog that liked to tear up the house and eat the furniture, even the floor! It made me think, “This dog is special. Not all animals are like this.” They got their ‘clearance puppy’ as the next step after their marriage, instead of babies. It reminded me of my husband and I when we got married. Our first addition to the Agnew clan was Cocoa, a deer chihuahua. With long legs and big ears, she looked like a rat as a baby but grew into her own. She was so faithful and loyal but not very obedient, which led to her death. She was 8 years old. We had left on my Grandpa’s tractor to go fishing, (this is in Alabama) and Cocoa was in the fenced in yard but somehow got out to try and follow us (so we assume, we didn’t see her). When we got back she was hiding in some bushes. We had thought she got hit by a car and took her to the Vet immediately. As we were waiting for the results of the x-rays, I was looking through her fur and saw teeth marks and that is when we realized she was attacked by a big dog, according to the markings. The Vet gave us some pain medicine for her but she died the next morning in our arms. It was very hard to let go of our first addition to our family. Because of my experience, I could associate with the characters and their feelings with their “baby”.

Marley was spoiled and grew to be out of control or maybe not.

While I see a lot of articles supporting dog training because of this movie, I don’t get it. I mean, I see an animal that has a heart and mind, kind of like a human but he isn’t on two legs and speaking English. Think about it: if you bring home an animal and he is the only pet, then you have to go to work and keep him home, alone, during the day, what do you expect to happen? He just left his family of so many brothers and sisters. He had fun with others all day while he fed from his momma and got attention from the people that were trying to sell him. Not to mention all the people that came by and saw him everyday and thought he was the most adorable puppy.

So, you take home the adorable pet, and boy, can they be adorable as puppies! There’s just one minor problem: He isn’t use to being alone.

Now you might be thinking, ‘This is an animal. Animals don’t think like humans.’ But I am here to tell you, they do have feelings and they want the same thing that the human does…love.

I was raised, on and off, around my Grandparents. They had a chicken coop, pigeon coop, squirrels everywhere and loved having the doberman pincher. I have lived to see them go through at least 5 dobermans and 3 chihuahuas. They kept the dobermans for guard dogs outside and the Chihuahuas inside for companionship. (Did you know that the chihuahua helps humans get rid of asthma? Very true! My Grandpa had attacks so bad that he almost died a couple of times and then they bought a chihuahua because they heard it would help from their doctor. It did! He hasn’t had an attack in over 40 years!) I learned a lot watching them with their animals. I learned that I would never want to be one of their pets. Some people just don’t need animals period.

Tidbit: In the history of the dog, they were for companionship and some breeds used as a guard dog. They were also the first animal domisticated by humans.

Just like we cannot know the mind of another human but assume what is going on by their actions and facial expressions, we can do the same with our animals.
I have 5 dogs and 2 cats. (You wouldn’t know that I had these animals when you walked in my home. I keep a clean and Pier One pumpkin spice smell as you walk in.) With our 5 dogs, they are loved and they have each other to entertain them when we aren’t around. Just like Marley in the movie, whenever there is a bad storm coming or it is already here, the animals can’t be in their bed, they have to be in ours or under it! They are frightened, just like we tend to be. They cry, not with the same sound but with the tears. They get sick and they show their love and loyalty when ever we are. If we are hurt, physically, they will come and sit by us. If they know something is wrong, which they have that sixth sense, they will be by your side or try to get your attention. In the movie, Marley knew when there was something bad happening 2 doors down. I think about the times whenever something is going on around my house. The animals will go berserk. Well, except for one time.

Whenever we have people over or family come to stay with us, they always make the comment that our animals are not animals. They are like humans. They listen to us when we tell them to go out or come in. Even our cats! Now that is amazing to me. Bailey, our pretty yellow cat, will sometimes zip right past us when we let the animals out or come in. When he does and we want him back in, he can be on the other side of the fence when I call him and here he comes, running toward me like I am his momma. They all listen. Just like humans, they each have their own personality.

Our Shih Zhu, Buttons, is the mother hen. She has to clean everyone, including the cats! Cleaning their ears and face. She is an amazing dog, full of love and compassion for everyone. She senses or maybe sees what we can’t and knows if you are here to do harm or good. All the animals are like that. The cats don’t like it when other people come over. They will go and hide, well at least Bailey will. Fez will crawl in your lap, purring wanting you to love on him.

With our animals, we got our Chow Chow, Angel, because Art always wanted one. I am scared of big dogs but there was something about her. She is the one that reminded me of the older years with Marley and is the one that we will have to see leaving us soon. She is 15 years old! We have had 15 great years with her but now she is old and in her ways; laying around, wanting to eat nothing but dog bones. Where once she was the vibrant dog chasing Art around the yard and house, nipping him on the calves, she is now taking it easy.

I won’t say a lot about the movie to give it away but I am glad I saw it. I think anyone who has an animal needs to see this movie. You will see what a wonderful animal you have. Like John Grogan said, “…they don’t care what clothes you wear, how much money you have, they just want to be loved and will love you in return.”

Animals can’t speak. They can’t tell you they are having a bad day or that they don’t want you to go because they are scared or because they will miss you. They tell you in ways of eating your blinds when you leave or eating something that you like because they are upset with you. I have gone through 3 sets of vertical blinds because of, Taffy, our corgy mx, missing us.

If we leave the house for a certain amount of time, she gets upset. The others just sleep and chill out but she is a lot like Marley in the movie. She once got upset with us for leaving the house for a couple of hours and got a bottle of Motrin off our piano, tore it open and ate all of the 80 pills left! I didn’t know which animal did it, so I had to take them all outside and induce vomiting with peroxide (according to my vet) and check if there were any pills to see which one did it. Well, there were no pills in any of the animals vomit, so the Vet said I would need to wait until that evening and who ever got sick, to look at the vomit and make sure there were no dark speckles. If so, that is blood and the animal would need to take the pill they gave me because they probably wouldn’t make it through the night. Well, Taffy was the only one that got sick early in the morning but there wasn’t any speckles in her vomit. That was over 2 years ago.

So, each one of our animals has their own personality, their own manners and their degree of love and loyalty. Seeing the movie Marley & Me will make you look at your pets differently when you get home. I will buy the movie for my Grandparents who think animals don’t have feelings. I want you to go away from the post knowing that your pet loves you. You bought him/her or they were given to you, no matter how you acquired them, they will be loyal to you and love you if you treat them right. Sometimes they will be all the above even when all they know is a chain and doghouse out back.

I hope you will rent, buy or go see the movie. It will open your eyes to the love of an animal.

So, the question is, Do you have a ‘Clearance Puppy’?  If so, tell me your story and share a picture of your animal! It doesn’t have to be just a ‘puppy’!

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Do You Have A ‘Clearance Puppy’?