He’s the newest addition to our family, a smallish-sized pit bull mix we fondly call Bruno. (More on the significance of the name in a bit.) It’s possible he may be a future guest contributor to the blog if all goes well. Hey, he likes a good yarn, particularly if they’re action-oriented but he also has a soft spot for the mushy stuff, too, so we’re a good match. ;-).
Here’s the thing, last year, we lost not one, but three long-time pets, two cats and a dog, all from old age. We still had two cats in the house both in their prime, so we weren’t actively looking for a dog but we do live on a farm. We’re used to having a dog around and it was time, I think. Plus, I’d already decided that in the event I did get a dog in the future it would be a short-haired terrier type.
I just wasn’t expecting it to be anything like a pit bull. Good thing I watch the Dog Whisperer religiously. 😉
Anyway, Bruno showed up as a stray on our doorstep early in the month of December and after searching around to see if he belonged to anyone in the area, we allowed ourselves to fall in love with him the rest of the way. He is an absolute sweetheart, let me tell you. He gets along with – reads submits to – the cats, Max and Raven, who I’ll be introducing separately in their own posts, and generally keeps us all on our toes.
The best thing as far as I’m concerned is that he’s active enough that he gets me out to exercise him but still has his down times. Seems like he’s either on or off. Full steam ahead or asleep on the couch or bed. Reminds me a lot of my father in that. He would go hard for days, weeks even, on on end when working on a project and then you wouldn’t see him for days while he slept it off.
Some people are just like that but I’ve always had to pace myself.
Which brings me to the name Bruno. When he showed up on our doorstep, my ex-husband was just arriving for a visit and the dog practically walked in the door with him. Enthusiastically. At first, we actually thought he’d brought the dog because in the job he does he sometimes finds strays and will leave them with us until he can find them homes. So it’s not like we haven’t seen plenty of dogs over the years and not gotten attached to them. But the minute the ex started checking this one out, he looked him the eyes and said “Well, hello, Bruno.”
I literally wailed, “Kent!?! How could you!”
Why? Because Bruno is my deceased father’s old nickname. I seriously wanted to smack the man right upside the head then and there. And almost did. Talk about unfair tactics and he knew it, partly because he knew what type of dog I was looking for and partly because he knew what the name meant. 😉
But, you know, as much as we tried not to use that name the first week or so, it fit the dang dog’s personality, all the way around. And not all for sentimental reasons either. He’s quite the character all on his own as I’ll share more about as time goes on.
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