The Reality of a Brat

It seems like the only kid I write about anymore is Alex. I need to have a whole post dedicated just to Freedom, my first son. Freedom is a mix that I adopted from the SPCA 8.5 years ago. I went there looking for a dog and well, he picked me. I saw him and his litter mate in the kennel and originally chose his litter mate. They were identical except the litter mate had black smudges under his eyes. The volunteer brought the litter mate out and he wanted nothing to do with me. He wasn’t hostile by any means, he just wasn’t interested. The volunteer suggest the second dog. She put him on the ground and he ran to me and put his paws on my shoulder as if giving me a hug. I was in love.

Freedom has been an awesome dog and best friend. He has chronic health problems that have led to several surgeries, one to remove bladder stones, others to remove tumors. He has hypothyroidism and severe allergies that lead to skin infections. I lovingly call him my special ed dog. He has protected me, loved me and stood by me through some of the hardest times in my life. There is one time specifically that I can say without him, I would not be alive.

He is getting older now and his hips are bothering him more and more. He rarely jumps up on the bed and at 75lbs, its hard for me to lift him sometimes. He has a comfy dog bed but I would rather have him with me of course. He is by far the best dog anyone could ever ask for. He had a bit of trouble when I brought Alex home but I think in large part that was because he felt somewhat displaced and couldn’t figure out what this thing was that cried all the time.

We worked through it though and he and Alex are great friends now. They often play “tag” and run through the house. Freedom is so could with Alex, it amazes me. For such a large dog he is amazingly gentle and kind to him.

The obligatory pictures.

Filed under: parenting on November 11th, 2007