Home Alone

I think everyone, especially as a teenager, has done something they shouldn't while home alone. Whether it's as big as throwing a party, as silly as dancing around while blasting music through the house, or as simple as eating the forbidden cookie dough in the fridge. Having a dog that stays inside all day, I occasionally wonder what he does while we're gone. As my brother and I are still in school, and my parents go to work most every weekday, my dog is home by himself quite often for several hours at a time. My family has a pretty good idea of what he does: sleeps. Between eating, begging for food, and greeting us on our returns home, my dog mostly sleeps all day. I can't blame him; he's old and lazy.

Before he became old and lazy, around 2003.

I know that he sleeps on the extra mattress in my bedroom (which will be gone soon when I get new furniture) and throughout the floors of my house. But about a week ago, I realized that the couch in our entertainment room was constantly covered in Cosmo's dog hair. I started to suspect that Cosmo was getting up onto the couch when no one was around to see. When I had a friend sleepover at my house this last week, we slept on the couch. And my dog, knowing that I let things slide, jumped up on the couch with us.

The picture my brother took of Cosmo a few days ago. I apologize for the poor quality.

This afternoon, as I came home from school, he was nonchalantly laying on the couch in our living room when he embarrassingly realized I had walked through the front door. Having one of his senior moments and not hearing me come to the front door, he quickly hopped off of the couch and welcomed me home as if I hadn't seen anything. Who does he think he is? I was surprised but also laughing at him. My dad had the same response when I texted him about it and he texted back saying, "Ha. Stupid dog." As I was just telling my brother, he showed me a picture he took of Cosmo the other day doing the same thing laying on the couch.

The couch in the background is the same couch he sleeps on today. This picture was taken around 2004, right about when I had ambitions to be a hair stylist.

I would've gotten mad at him, but he's pretty cute, and I don't blame him for being a little bit of a rebel while home alone. He's been having a hard time with other things around the house such as walking on the slick wood floors in the kitchen and coming up the "haunted" stairs, as my family calls them, in the backyard. So I decided to let it slide this time . . . and I'll probably do the same in the future haha.

Puppy Cosmo, around 2002 while boating at a lake. How could someone be mad at a face like this?

Want to know what your dog may or may not do while you're gone all day? Instead of installing a creepy camera system throughout your home, check out this article- I'm sure your dog does one or two of these things.

We Miss You

For as long as I can remeber, whenever my family and I would go out of town on vacation, my great-grandpa would tend Cosmo. They were practically best friends. My grandpa loved seeing Cosmo, and Cosmo even knew the word "grandpa". It was such a joy to see them together. But in the spring of 2012, my great-grandpa became very sick. He started to get better while staying at a nursing home. Luckily, they allowed pets and we were able to bring Cosmo in to visit. We didn't realize that that would be the last time they met. And neither did they.

Although there are not pictures of my grandpa and Cosmo together, here's a picture of my grandpa and me dancing in 2007.

As my great-grandpa started improving, my family decided it was alright to continue with our vacation planned to San Francisco. My grandpa was still in the nursing home, so we let Cosmo stay with a close friend of ours. The third day that we were there, we received the horrible, shocking news of my grandpa's passing. In all of my grieving, as stupid as it sounds, I couldn't stop thinking about him and Cosmo never spending time together again.

That summer, my parents went to Las Vegas for a few days with my brother or me. So I took Cosmo over to my great-grandma's so I could feed him and whatnot there. Cosmo, having been to my great-grandparent's house many times, knew that this meant grandpa time. But when Cosmo was laying at the back door where my grandpa would always sit and let home, and no one came, I could tell he was sad. Dogs are known for being able to read humans' emotions, but I think it works both ways. I hadn't ever seen my dog that sad. We sat at the back door in the dark for at least an hour while we mourned. It was a tough day.

As my family and I went down to Moab, UT this weekend to mountain bike, we had to leave Cosmo all alone at home with a friend checking in on him twice a day. It sparked all of these memories and recognize the relationship ship that my grandpa and dog shared. Dogs truly are a man's best friend. Or girl's

My best friend and I the day we moved out of our old house- September 13th, 2013.

R.I.P. Grandpa. We miss you.