Griffin

If you hear of a dognapping in the area, I'll go ahead and confess - it was us. Okay, me. I'll not implicate my innocent family.

What, pray tell, would compel me to commit such a heinous act and embark upon a life of crime?

This guy ... meet Griffin.

Because if I were ever going to dognap a dog, it would be this one. There is none other that I want.

Here's how it happened. A few weeks ago, a friend of ours asked my husband if we would be willing to dog-sit for the weekend. As in, bring his dog to our house. My husband (oh-so-wisely) put the query to me, and to our mutual surprise, I said, Sure, why not? With the following conditions: YOU make sure the fence is secure, YOU feed the dog, YOU walk the dog, YOU take care of any and all requirements pertaining to the care of the dog. Having thus absolved myself from any onerous obligations, I resigned myself to tolerate having a dog in my house for a weekend.

What happened, of course, was that this scraggly little pooch stole my heart. I mean, just look at that face! What can I say about Griffin? Probably first and foremost, the thing I loved best about little Griffin is this: not once did he make any attempt to lick me. Not once. That alone sets the bar high for any dog which may come after him. So very high.

As if keeping his tongue to himself wasn't enough to forge an undying attachment to him on my part, Griffin also happens to be a love bug. Docile, sweet, gentle. Say a word to him, or merely glance in his direction, and he rolls over onto his back and looks up at you with a face that simply says, Rub my belly. It is slightly reminiscent of the dog in the movie Up: "My name is Dug. I have just met you, and I love you."

We didn't tell the kids beforehand that we were dog-sitting. We thought that would be a fun surprise. It was. It played out like this: The kids walked in from school, saw Griffin, and immediately exclaimed in ecstatic and rapturous wonder, We got a dog??!!

To which we laughed, and said... no.

Don't worry, they were not scarred (on some level, they knew such a fortune could not possibly be true); the initial disappointment was eased plenty enough just knowing we had a whole weekend with our new friend.

As a family still grieving the loss of the old man cat, we showered our pent-up affection on this willing recipient. I knew I was sunk when the little guy snuggled up in bed with between us at night - and I liked it. (Not to besmear the memory of the old man cat, but did he ever snuggle with us? Uh, no.) That dog has a special way about him.

When it came time for Griffin to go home, how the tears did flow from you-know-who. And I'm not embarrassed to tell you that the first couple of days without him, I missed him something fierce.

*In case the father of the sweet girl to whom Griffin belongs is reading this, of course you know I'm kidding about the dognapping. Besides, we already returned your house key.