cuddly-wuddly was a pitbull.

I try to hold back on the gratuitous pet entries, because y'all may not care. I know, because I used to sigh inside (and sometimes outside) when people wanted to tell me about their pets. What I have learned since getting a dog is that people who talk about their animal companions all the time are just trying to share something that is important to them in an effort to relate to other human beings and not feel so alone in this world. I'm not boring you with stupid dog stories, I'M SHARING MYSELF.

Thing 1: Ambassador
We had some friends over for Christmas dinner, a couple and their roommate. They have a miniature poodle, mostly because they live in an apartment and therefore needed a smaller pet. I guess the roommate is not a fan of the dog, because upon meeting Remix, he commented that at last, here was a "real dog." I have nothing against poodles in general, nor theirs specifically. There are many types of people in the world, and they have many different ideas of what they want out of a canine pal. I personally like an animal with a little physical heft, but if you want something you can carry in your handbag, that's cool, too.

Anyway, the guy spent a lot of time with Remix. He pet her and played tug with her and asked us lots of questions about adopting from the animal shelter. He seemed to have the idea that shelter pets are all damaged in some way, otherwise they wouldn't be there (Hint: the problem is overpopulation). She was the first pitbull and the first shelter pet that he'd ever spent any time with, and I can proudly report that she was an excellent ambassador. It's exactly what we want. We want people to meet our dog and change their minds. They don't have to go out and adopt one immediately, but their general impression should go from "face-eaters" to "not all face-eaters."

Thing 2: Cuddly-wuddly
At the New Year's party, someone asked a general question of those assembled: What was the best thing about 2011 for you? I was about to make fun of these kind of cutesy conversation starters, because I can be kind of a jerk sometimes, but then I realized that I had a really good answer.

"I got a dog." Everyone agreed that a dog was definitely the kind of thing that would go into the Plus column of a personal year-end inventory.

"Did you get the cutest widdle cuddly-wuddly puppy in the world?" some dude said, I'd never met him before. In fact, that is not an exact quote. He continued on in the cuddly-wuddly vein for a while, complete with hand motions that you might make about some sort of genetically engineered tiny fluffy creature that would break if it fell off the couch. I let him finish.

"She's a pitbull from the pound."

"Oh."

As much as I want to convince the world that pitbulls can be good dogs, sometimes it's fun to let people think that I live with a ferocious beast, particularly people who assume, for whatever reason *cough* 'cause I'm a woman *cough*, that I go in for cuddly-wuddly.

To be perfectly honest, Remix is actually pretty cuddly-wuddly.

Thing 3: Tug

I mean, little dogs are fine, but can they pull you out of bed in the morning?