Katie-Katie

This is our dog, Katie.

She goes by Katherine in more formal situations.

We got Katie last September. She kind of found us, I like to think. I’d been looking for a dog to adopt, and a friend of my sister-in-law’s had a dog they needed to get rid of. They have four kids, and their youngest was allergic to Katie. So, she came to live with us.

Her official breed is Redbone Coonhound Attention Hound. She came from a breeder who bred dogs for show. If the dogs weren’t of show quality (AKA Katie), they would see if they could be sold as a hunting dog, which her breed generally is. If not, as I suspect Katie wasn’t, they were sold as regular family pets.

Now, I don’t know Katie’s entire past, in the year before she moved in with us, she very well may have gone hunting. She may have gone strawberry picking or shoe shopping, or maybe even to Charleston to try out for American Idol, I simply do not know. And she doesn’t like to talk about it.

Coming from a family of four kids, she fits in very well here. My two kids roll all over her, they open her mouth and put food and toys inside. When they’re playing in the backyard, she’s laying right there with them. When they come inside, the three of them lie down, and watch TV, my boys using her as a pillow. She’s their playmate, their buddy, their companion; she really is the dog I’ve always wanted. Plus she’s very fancy as far as hound dogs go; she gets her nails painted and she crosses her paws like the lady she wants to be. And for all of that, I love her.

If we put all of that aside, she truly drives me insane. She is ALL up in my dance space, all effin’ day long. She follows us everywhere; wherever we are... there she is. With her old family, she was confined to the laundry room often, but here, oh no no, she sprawls out on the furniture. She eats food right off the table. She barks to come in 2 seconds after she cries to be let out. She thinks she deserves treats for merely existing. She’s extremely obnoxious when she eats. She hates the rain, refuses to go out in it unless I go with her.

So, a few weeks ago, I had an “A-ha” moment, and decided to use her extreme fear of water to my direct advantage. A squirt bottle. It didn’t take long. I hold that sucker up, say “Katie, go lay down” in my most convincing voice and she hauls ass like her tail is on fire to lay on… the… family room sofa. Hey. I’m working on it.