Jenny D from Tennessee: Things I Love

Puppies. Puppies. Puppies. Puppies. Puppies. PUPPIES.
Quite possibly my favorite topic of discussion. I want a dog SO bad. It is probably unhealthy how much I want one as a matter of fact. I think I can originally trace my love of dogs back to 101 Dalmatians. I wanted a dalmatian farm - just like the movie. Until my mother informed me that dalmatians had a tendency to be temperamental and even mean. So I let that dream go, but I moved on to many others, don't you worry.

As a child, I was very imaginative. I loved creative writing. I also loved puppies, as has already been established. Well, I was in a multi-age classroom for kindergarten through second grade and had the same teacher all three years. Turns out that I had enough imagination to create puppy themed creative writing stories every time we had an assignment - for all three years. When my parents came to one of my parent/teacher conferences, my teacher handed them a stack of papers and said, "I really think you should consider getting her a dog." True life. I did not make that up.

We brought home a dog named Biscuit from the pound a few years later. That didn't last long. We still don't know exactly what breeds created the psycho dog, but she eventually had to go live on a farm. She is happily rounding cattle now. I feel sorry for the cows. Then, on a Saturday in November of 1999, my parents surprised my brother and I with a gift. (We really needed the pick-me-up. Tennessee had just lost to Arkansas. It was not a pretty sight.) They had a little poem entitled "The Month Before Christmas". It was a play off of "The Night Before Christmas" for those of you who didn't catch that. So, Mama D brought out this green and red box with a bow on top - the kind they have on TV where the lid just lifts off - and Reed and I opened it together. Inside, sat the cutest little puppy I have ever seen. But we thought it was a stuffed animal at first - until she moved. Reed and I screamed, "IT'S REAL!!" We named her Holly and she is still the cutest little dog of all time.

Sweet Holly

So, what it boils down to is this. I once again want a dog so bad it is a joke - a dog of my very own, of course. A little puppy would make my life here at school a crazy, mixed up, busy, frustrating, time-consuming mess. But it would be the happiest little mess. That's the thing I like most about dogs - they are totally worth the trouble. They love you unconditionally...no matter how many mistakes you make. They think you're the best even at your worst. Hey, who doesn't want a little bit of that action? So, on this lovely fall morning, I would like to share some of my favorite puppies with you. Everyone loves a good puppy picture.