Davis the Dog

First came love, then came marriage, and then came Davis in a baby carriage.

He was a tiny black bundle who grew into a giant moose of a dog, taking us on a parenting crash course along the way. 

He was our first "baby" and seemed bent on breaking us in, paving the way for tiny humans. Late nights and puppy whimpers in the middle of the night? Check. He taught us everything there is to know about "crying it out" (we failed miserably and became co-sleeping parents for his first 5 years). It turns out that house-breaking a puppy might be even more challenging than potty-training a toddler. And we were well-versed in ER visits by the time kids came along, thanks to Davis' penchant for eating chicken bones, swallowing underwear, and getting burned by flying cooking oil.

We scooped poop, applied ear ointment, and said goodbye to countless shoes, books, bathing suits, towels and socks...and realized years later that changing diapers, smearing on diaper cream, and seething over black Sharpie on a leather couch amounts to pretty much the same thing.

Davis taught us to slow down, appreciate long walks, and laugh and linger at the dog park while he fine tuned his puppy "zooms" and formed goofy canine friendships. We always had reason to sweep or vacuum up dog hair, but he made sure we never had to clean up a single crumb on the floor, often taking things one step further and taking food right out of unsuspecting hands.

He was an ambler, a loafer, an expert napper. But he could spring to action and turn on a dime if dinner was being pulled out of the oven, if a little boy ran by him with a stuffed animal, or if anyone, anywhere was drying themselves off with a towel.

For eleven and a half years, he was everything we ever wanted in a dog. He gave us empathy for other dogs in need of homes, made us the kind of crazy dog people who special-order a black Lab mailbox, and inspired us to practically buy stock in the Black Dog Co.

Most of all, he taught our kids how to love and care for an animal who, in exchange for breakfast and dinner, tolerated them even when they mounted him like a horse, wrestled toys out of his mouth, and rolled over his paws with bikes and doll strollers.

We had to say goodbye to him this month, but we know for sure that he could not have given us a better start in this parenting adventure.