Alice – photo taken by Furkidz Photography

When the whole gay marriage argument was going on, one of the ridiculous things I heard was that next on the list would be people wanting to marry their dog.  Up until that point, it wasn’t something I had considered, and after careful thought, I have decided that I’d do that in a heartbeat.

Alice is without a doubt the love of my life.  I may have been with Robert for <clear throat> mumble years, but its Alice who I’d choose to marry.

She’s so smart and she’s so funny.  She has a sense of humour not often seen in a dog.  She doesn’t warm to other people easily, and she could count on one paw those she likes.  All others she is wary and cautious of.  She is mine and I am her’s.

She is a the energy in the home.  She’s the one constantly entertaining us with her ‘Alice-isms’ – the gazing lovingly into your face while flashing her teeth at you, the sitting up on your lap “meerkating” while we try to watch a movie, the ear nipping, nose biting, always in your face and up your sweater.

She’s also very helpful, she will lead you to where the cats get fed, she will point out where the dog food is, she will even remind us when we have leftovers carelessly left on the bench.

I confess she is also a tattletale.  One lovely afternoon she lead me out to the back garden and pointed to where Hugo had managed to get over the fence where he wasn’t supposed to be.  She looked very pleased with herself and had a smug “look Mum, he’s being naughty” look on her face.  I didn’t know whether to tell him off or laugh at her “telling on him“.

She even tries to be bad sometimes.  I caught her once in the driveway doing this strange swaying side to side with her head  On closer inspection she was copying Ruby who loved to smear herself in hedgehog poo.  Alice just couldn’t bring herself to actually touch it, but she was going through the motions about 4cm off the ground.  When I said “Alice no!”, she looked at me with a “thank goodness for that” expression as she bounded happily away from it.

I love how she thinks she owns the neighbourhood, she’s the biggest dog on the street – at least in her mind.  She’s 4.5kg of pure fury if anyone gets between her and the heated dog bed.

She’s bigger than her physical size, in personality, she’s enormous.

It’s kind of nice that hardly anyone sees her as we do, that way I don’t have to share her.  She’s all mine, my precious…