She's One of Us Now...

My friend Jennifer is one of those people that you can't help but adore. She's smart, she's beautiful, she's silly to the point of absurdity and she's fiercely loyal to her family and core group of friends. She can tell you the top notes in any perfume by taking a brief whiff and she can recite quotes from Will Ferrell movies with deft accuracy and coordinating facial ticks. She leads a stylish life in Manhattan with a great career and her gorgeous husband Dave who has a British accent that makes girls like me swoon. Yet, something was missing in this charmed life. Then came Ted. Yes, life changed last August when Teddy the Rhodesian Ridgeback came onto the scene and I realized my dear friend was hopelessly in love with four freckled puppy paws. A visit to her apartment on the Upper West side last week confirmed what I was long suspecting...she is an official Dogmom. She's in deep. She's one of us now.
Her classically decorated apartment with wood floors, wide original moldings and leather furniture is now strewn with dog toys with names such as "Camo Beau-Beau" and "Hedgey the Hedgehog" Dogmoms world round give the most ridiculous names to toys and act like the dog themselves named them such. It's one of the first symptoms of Dogmomminess.
Teddy is Jen's first dog, she waited years for the right time in her life to have a dog and researched the breed and all things dog with the zeal of a woman on a mission. I don't think Jen ever studied so arduously for anything in life. I say this with much confidence as we once took a 7:30a.m. Science class together in college and we would be at the bar at 3:30 a.m. wondering how to get sleep and our homework done in the upcoming 4 hours. (sleep often prevailed - but to be honest she did get a full letter grade above me in that course so who am I to question her study methods?)
So when Teddy came into Jen and Dave's life she was ready. But I guess I wasn't ready for what a Dogmom she has become. It sounds patronizing, but I'm really proud of her. She's no rookie, she's the real deal. Lord knows I had no idea what I was doing with my first dog a Labrador named Fergus. I mean for God sakes I fed him Puppy Chow from the Grocery store! (I know, I know...I was young and stupid though)
Jen has all the signs of a Dogmom in love. She murmurs sweet nothings into Teddy's ears and when she calls him silly nicknames he looks at her like she is speaking their own secret language. She gets up at dawn in the dead of winter to give Teddy a dog park romp before she goes to work. She knows how many whiskers he has...no small task as their are over a 150 of them. Ted eats holistic food and has a closet full of gourmet treats and Jen knows all their ingredients. Is she protective like any Dogmom worth her beans is? Well, Jen was ready to take a swing at the lady she met in her dog park Rhodesian group who said Teddy's head was too small for a Ridgeback. Us real Dogmoms know hell hath no fury like a Dogmom who's four pawed child has been talked negatively about. Don't go there.
Sure Teddy has a personal dog walker three times a day, has been to a top notch day care facility, has embroidered dog coats and a bed that cost more than my first car. But these things aren't where the love is held. What really showed me the love his Dogmom has for him was a simple exchange I witnessed last Tuesday night. Jen and I sat on the couch at the end of the day with Ted curled up between us and Jen enthusiastically showed me the "B" marking on his tummy, where the crowns were on his ridge and where his hair zippers on his legs. She pointed all this out without looking away from him with a smile on her face and in her heart.
You can't fake this stuff. She's a Dogmom.