I posted the other day on Mabel’s first day with us nearly 8 years ago. So it’s only fair that I give Gilbert a little love too. At the time, we thought these two little beagles would be pretty much twins. Well, in some ways they are two peas in a pod, but in most ways they couldn’t be more different from each other.
When we picked up Mabel, she slept all the way home. And as soon as we brought her into the house, she immediately fell asleep on my stomach. Outside in the yard, she was curious but kept looking around to us for reassurance that everything was okay.
Gilbert, on the other hand, cried all the way home when we went to pick him up. Cried. And cried. And cried. For over 2 hours back to the house. Once he was home, in the yard, he was fine. In fact, he just marched around like he knew exactly where he was going and was running errands in a strip mall.
So I thought Gilbert might become the boss and Mabel would be clingy. But actually, it didn’t quite turn out that way.
It turned out that Gilbert became the world’s biggest mama’s boy. He rarely lets Jodi out of his sight. And when she’s not around, he looks up at me with this worried look, like he can’t find his keys and needs to get to band practice.
Meanwhile, Mabel kind of morphed into a cat. Sometimes she just walks out the doggie door like she’s saying, “Okay, well, I’m going out for awhile. Don’t wait up.” And she always wants to be at the highest point in the room. Her favorite spot is the comfy chair. Not “in” the comfy chair. “On top of” the comfy chair.
Dogs are weird. Really weird. But awesome.