Dear Neat and Tidy Friend,

Congratulations!  I hear you are considering adopting a puppy.  Fantastic idea!  Who doesn’t want a cute little bundle of fur take on walks, cuddle with, and love unconditionally?

The unconditional part is important, you see, because this puppy will change your life.  You know this already, right?  People have told you about the night waking and the many walks, they’ve told you about how you’ll have to re-arrange your schedule and save bundles of money for vet bills.  But what about the fur?  Have they mentioned the fur?  Or, more specifically, the shedding of the fur?

Oh, right, you’re going to keep him outside in a dog run.  Good plan.  My Aunt Elaine had that plan, too, until her sweet little Gypsy got sick.  She came in to get well and never left.  Dogs are smart that way.  People are the foolish ones.  That fancy dog run became a lawn ornament and trellis for beans or raspberries or some such thing.  It sure didn’t see Gypsy again.

And when your puppy joins the household, it won’t be long before you sit down to a lovely dinner and find a stray dog hair in your salad.  Consider yourself warned.  Disgusting, you say!  You are cleaner than that.  You will sweep and vacuum and mop away the evidence.  Yeah, okay, good luck with that.

My favorite part, really, is how dogs can sense who loves them and who would really rather see them penned up on a farm somewhere far, far away. One day, your stylish friend will show up dressed in her sleekest black pants, strutting her trim stuff all over the place.  And your super-hairy, hugely-shedding yellow Labrador will be right there to greet her. In a fine example of the skills dogs have honed through the years, he will sense that she doesn’t want a single strand of that nasty dog hair anywhere near her swanky self.  He will bound up to her, tongue hanging, tail wagging, hair flying everywhere, just to show her who’s in charge.

Dogs are the smart ones, I’m telling you.

Have fun with your new puppy.

With much love,

From  your friend with the extremely friendly, unbelievably hairy 13-year old Labrador

This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network’s blog blast.  It’s sponsored this week by SC Johnson, who’s introducing the Pledge Fabric Sweeper for Pet Hair.  And as any dog owner will attest, this is an idea who’s time has come!

SC Johnson to introduce the Pledge™ Fabric Sweeper for Pet Hair.