More Company

It seems like around our house we're not quite comfortable if we don't havean extra person or two staying with us. Between students and cousins andkids staying with us while their parents go on trips life has been a littlebusy lately.This week we have a new guest. His name is Buster and he is a BIG black labdog. I figure he must weigh at least 100 pounds. He is REALLY big. At firstI thought Buster seemed like kind of a dumb name - but the more I know himthe more I think it suits him.His owners are friends of ours that have gone to the states to a wedding.They have 8 children and so flying wasn't really an option! They are taking3 weeks to do this little trip. DH had told them a while ago that if theyever need someone to watch their dog we'd be happy to do it. ...and I guesswe are happy to do it!Buster arrived last Thursday night. DD and DS played with himnon-stop. Well, until Sunday when DD left the gate open and Buster tookadvantage of the moment. I had left for church early that day and wasleading the music. DH arrived with DD and DS just as the meetingstarted. When I came and sat down with them after the Sacrament DD leanedover to me and said, "Buster's gone." My response was, "WHAT??!! What are wedoing here then??!!" We sat through the meeting waiting and waiting for itto be over - and then we took DS to Primary and then DD and I went inthe van and DH went in his car to look for Buster. No luck. Couldn't findhim anywhere. We prayed all through Sacrament that he'd come up and we'd beable to drive home and find him in the back yard. Alas, it wasn't to be. Ifigured by that time he could be to the edge of the city....he's quite a runner!Finally later that day we called the family and asked if they'd check theirmessages. Sure enough there were a couple message about Buster (he has a tagwith their phone number). No wonder Buster hadn't come home! One lady calledto say she had grabbed him but he got away from her. Then another guy calledto say that he had Buster in his back yard. Yea!! I really am not in lovewith this dog - but I'd sure rather not lose him!So, he's been with us for more than a week now. Only two weeks to go. Wefigured this might be good practise to see if we really want a dog. DD andDS AND DH have been lobbying for a dog for a while. I'm still holdingout. After this week they're not too sure they like picking up dog-poo(although it's pretty entertaining to watch them gag while they do it!) andnor do they (i.e. anyone else in the family but ME) like going for walks allthe time with him...so maybe I will win after all and we will still bedog-less for a while yet after Buster leaves.One can only hope!!The one thing I know for sure: We will NEVER have a dog this big!!He is a really good dog. He lets DS roll on him and ride him and doweird things to his face. DD dresses him up - and he just lumbers alongand lives with it. We've had cousins over a couple times this week.The first day the 21 months old was terrified of Buster (it all started with Buster'sENTHUSIASTIC greeting when they arrived). Whenever Buster would walk intothe room the 21 month old would run away from him and want to be picked up. However, thesecond day he started to have a change of heart. I would find him laying onthe floor next to Buster playing with his tail or his feet, or if Busterstood up he'd come up to him and hang his arms over his back and leanson Buster until Buster tired of it. They're friends now. :0)For me, I get to vacuum every day and am amazed at the amount of dog hair Ivacuum up each and every day!As nice as he is though, I'll look forward to when he goes home. :0)