I had a hot date tonight- this time, with my dog son, Leo. I got Leo in July as an impulse gift to myself. I’ve been thinking about getting a dog for months, only, I never thought I’d be brave enough to go it alone. I’ve spent my first two years in New York lingering at every doggy-hello, promising under my breath that I’d get my own as soon as I conned a man into loving me enough to share a living thing with me - plants don’t count. 

I’ve had a few helpless “what have I done” moments and I’ve had a fewer “what the actual fuck” moments, like when I sat through a conference call watching Leo wrap my kitchen in valuable T-P and then make confetti out of the roll. Much like the periodically disappointing men in my life, he’s lucky he’s cute. For the most part, he’s a prince and came pre-trained to pull me towards attractive shirtless men in the park. I asked the universe to bring me a really good man and he brought me a very hairy one with four legs, but a good man nonetheless. 

I don’t believe in accidents, I believe this dog is mine because of a fateful 15 minute Google search that brought me to puppyfinder.com and picked out this exact dog for me. And I just got extremely lucky. (I know, I know, he’s not a rescue! I tried to rescue for months, okay!? Turns out I’m not an ideal rescue mom and shelters are pickier than elite dating apps.) Three weeks and two sketchy phone conversations later, my Kentucky boy from Amish Country met me at a gas station just outside of the Newark Airport and life got a lot cuter. 

Leo and I wake up around 7am, play with our happy crew of pandemic puppies in the park for an hour, stop at our Instagram-friendly coffee shop and then buckle in for a 9-6 workday. I’m a product marketing manager in ad tech and that makes me an unfit dog mum, since my eyes are on a screen all day instead of watching (arguably) the world’s cutest puppy- I’m biased but he really might be. 

I started a new job in March, just when the world went into lockdown. It’s in my character to want to be valuable and be good at what I get paid to do. I’ve been burning the candle at both ends and after a full day of zoom meetings and email threads I can barely follow anymore, Leo shows me why I picked him and he picked me back. I was on the couch in front of my laptop with my head in my hands and this sweet face stuck his nose to mine to say, “stop working, enough already. Let’s go play.” My Leo is here to teach me to play more. 

This little guy is fearless, climbs up any dog ten times his size, runs into waves seconds after experiencing sand for the first time. We play. And then I carry Leo home with his sandy head plopped over my shoulder. I sing him what I remember of “Baby Beluga” to keep him from whining. He doesn’t love being carried home and soon he won’t need me to carry him home when he’s too tired to walk. My eyes might well up after just looking up the life expectancy of Australian Shepards, I really could have lived without that Google search, but for the next 12-15 years, Leo is my heart. Call me irrational but I wonder if I’ll love my human children as much as I love Leo. We get each other. I wouldn’t trade him for my dog-less freedom back.

Life Lessons through Puppy Dog Eyes:

1. Play more and then play some more

2. Experience everything new and magical nose-first

3. Go for the big waves, none of that dipping-a-toe-in shit

4. Let your person carry you home when you need it

5. Stuff is just stuff, even when it’s wasted toilet paper in a global pandemic

The work stuff matters zero percent and this time I get with him- these early, chaotic days- they’re important. Thank you for reminding me to play more, Leo- doing life with you is only going to keep getting better.