I had a good friend named Katie when I lived in Florida. She lived in my neighborhood and we would go for walks sometimes. She had a golden retriever named “Mr. Holbert” that was basically my dogs boyfriend. Whenever we would get the two of them together it turned into a major make out session. I don’t think they realized how inappropriate it was but, we would all laugh and blush a bit when they would go at it. If you have never seen dogs French kiss…you are really missing out.

Fantine (my dog) would get excited whenever I would ask her if she wanted to go visit Mr Holbert. She totally recognized his name. I remember one time, when we took her over to his house to swim. We had never taken Fantine swimming before, but…seriously…what dog doesn’t love to swim? All of the dogs I’ve ever had have loved to jump in the water and ‘doggy paddle’ for hours. Even Barney, the dog I had as a child that didn’t know how to swim, turned into a regular water dog after a bit of coaxing.  When we got to the pool, Fantine hung back a bit. I figured she was playing hard to get and being lady like and all that so, I helped her out. We grabbed her and threw her into the pool. Did you know that dogs can totally give you a dirty look? Indeed. If the look Fantine gave was judged on a scale from 1 – 10…one being slightly perturbed and 10 being daggers to your heart, her look would have been an 11….meaning she would like to pee in my cereal while chewing my favorite shoes to oblivion. She was NOT happy.

Although we tried at other times to interest Fantine in the cool joys of swimming, we have yet to be successful. She is NOT a water dog. That being said, she is really great at bath time. She will stand very still and let us do it. Its surprising actually.

One of the reasons I got Fantine in the first place was to be a protector for me when I went walking/running/biking with Katie. Now, if you knew Katie at all, this might surprise you. Katie is a tough gal. She was in the military for years and frankly, could kick any normal guys butt. I figured walking around the neighborhood with this gal would be not only fun, but safe. She ‘had my back’…..or so I thought. One day we were out walking at either dusk or early ‘before light of day’ and we had a huge dog (small dust mop) run out at us and attempt to defend it’s property. This is the part where Katie would be my body guard…. But instead of that, she grabbed my arm and hid behind me. It was a bit funny and not a bit disturbing….to have my protector being protected by my scrawny arm. We laughed about that a lot and I got Fantine to be my protector.

The first time I took Fantine out for a walk….we didn’t get far.Every time we would hear a dog bark, baby cry, old person breathe…she would cower behind, and under, my legs like a total baby! The idea of running with her was quickly put to rest due to the fact that she runs like a drunken sailor, weaving all over the road, distracted by any and all scents.  I gave up on Fantine being of any use on outings other than muscle building to which ever hand held her leash. She can be taught and is pretty good at heeling….and I have amazing arms….

I admit to mocking Fantine openly about her scaredy ways. It is true that she is very protective of my youngest, and always has been. She would stand over him when he played on the floor….just to protect him from being squashed we assumed. Other than that, we consider her a big baby.

I was out walking with Sarah the other evening when I decided to stop thinking of Fantine as such a baby. We were having a nice brisk walk when all of a sudden something moved in the corner of my sight and I almost jumped into Sarah’s arms. Granted, I was closer to the ‘action’ and could possibly have shrugged it off as jumping ‘in front of her to protect her’ but…we both know I got startled and jumped almost out of my skin. In my defense, we live in the desert and there are all kinds of undesirable critters out there roaming around in the half light. The sad thing is that it was only a small desert rabbit. Or what we lovingly call a ‘bunny.’ (said in the voice of ScoobyDoo)

So, now I’m the big baby. Its okay tho, really. Maybe that is why I have all these really tall kids. They were sent to protect me from all the big bad wolves and…killer bunnies. Cause I said so…..

Photo credit: http://bunniez.hubpages.com/hub/When-Bunnies-Attack-What-To-Do-When-Your-Rabbit-Bites