A dog person

    Yesterday we went to a get-together with the the people from my pathways gathering, it was nice to meet in person with these people that I had thus far only interacted with online. As we chatted, one person in our group revealed that he is afraid of dogs. He owns a pest control company and has been bitten a few times while being in peoples homes, I guess I can understand his reservations, but it's hard for me to wrap my head around the idea of not liking animals. I was raised with them and as a general rule, I like most animals.

    Something I've learned about myself over the years is that although I love animals, I'm pretty picky about the kind I will have as pets. We are dog people around here, well for the most part anyway, Taevin is a cat person, but I think the rest of us prefer dogs. 

    I don't love having big dogs in my house, I prefer their temperment to small dogs but the sheer size is too much in this already crazy house, but small dogs are way too yappy for my taste. I also hate groomable dogs, grooming is expensive, and I hate doing it myself, although my dogs usually get bathed weekly because I can't stand the smell of stinky animals, and I know this is a super unpopular opinion, but I think groomable dogs are ugly, particularly doodle dogs. It has become trendy to breed poodles with other breeds in an effort to create hypoallergenic, even tempered dogs, then charge $5000 for what is essentially a mutt, people love them though. 

    Anyway, we've had French Bulldogs for quite a while and I love this breed! They're non-groomable, small-ish and good tempered, great with kids, happy to take a walk, but content if you don't have time, ridiculously cute and just an all around good dog. They're not smart, like not even a little, and can be a bit stubborn, but I think it's part of their charm.

    I always say that when these dogs (Rocco, Stella and the Beard) die, we won't be getting another, but if I'm being honest with myself, we'll probably always have dogs... because I'm a dog person.