Houseguest #1

Meet Murray. He's a nine-year-old black Lab who is staying with us until April 3rd. I'm in love with him, which is why his human parents thought of me first when they planned their cruise vacation.

Getting a dog of our own is impossible due to landlord request so I have to make due with the stolen snippets of puppy energy I get from strangers in the park or on the street.

Murray and I go everywhere together now - to the coffee shop, to breakfast, to the airport - everywhere. It's delicious to have a loving, if not slobbering face looking up at me no matter what is going on.

With Murray as my ticket, I've been going to Dog Park, which is like a big playground for canines. There, humans stand around either checking their emails or throwing slobbery tennis balls while their dog frantically runs around sniffing butts and generally celebrating their off-leash status. It's amazingly easy to make a dog happy and their communications with one another are so simple, I'm envious.

When I first let him run free, Murray ran immediately into a pack of four other black Labs and I thought I'd lost track of him. But Murray is a loyal pup and he checks in on me every few minutes without prompting so there's no chance of that. I felt like a proud mama. "Murray is the most handsome dog here, BY FAR," I kept thinking to myself. 

Thinking about turning over Murray next week makes me tear up. I don't want him to leave. Even our black cat, Boudreaux, has gotten used to him, I think.