Will my dogs always be my babies?

On Election Day, I turn 29. And everywhere I turn, people are asking me when I'm going to have a baby. Even in my mailbox; I've started receiving a mysterious subscription to "Parents" magazine. So my question is: When or if I decide to have kids, how will that change my relationship with my dogs?

Yesterday I left work early with a terrible migraine. Nothing new to me, I've been plagued with them for years. But I went straight home and crawled in bed. I didn't feed the dogs and didn't even think about dinner. When my husband got home, he fed the dogs and brought me dinner in bed. Very sweet.

When he came to bed around 10:15, he said that Greta was looking for me in the house. She had apparently run around the sofa a few times, and come to the bedroom door. But he didn't want to let her in and disturb me. Greta's my girl, and she's very sensitive. She knows I'm the one who feeds them and puts them to bed at night.

This morning, feeling much better, I woke the dogs up and fed them outside. After they ate, I filled their water bowls. And then Greta gave me a good shove with her front paws. She never does this in the morning. She generally wanders around the yard or just sits and waits for a good eye rub from me. I took this shove as if she was saying "Hey Mom, where were you last night?" Greta gets very used to her routines and is very sensitive when they are disturbed.

So when or if we decide to have kids, how will the dogs be affected? I'm a huge advocate for walking your dogs every day. Will I be able to do that if I have a baby? I notice in my neighborhood that the only dogs that get a walk are by owners who don't have kids or the kids are older or out of the house.

We were with a group of friends one time and one of the couples had a young child, and the other couples there only had dogs. So we were talking about our dogs. The couple with a child said "Our dog is lucky to be fed every day." I don't want that to happen to Cassie and Greta, they deserve better than that from us.

How does everyone else deal with this?

Jumping through hoops

Last Sunday, I set up a makeshift flyball course in the backyard for the girls. Cassie, if you'll remember, took flyball lessons last fall. She was pretty good at it, but for several reasons, we didn't continue with the lessons. We did, however, pick up some hoops that we could use on our own from time-to-time that could be substituted for the hurdles she jumped over.

Last Sunday was beautiful so I set these hoops up and decided to give it a try. We hadn't done it in quite a few months, so I wasn't sure if Cassie would remember. But she was SO excited when I started setting it all up. It was adorable. Greta had never seen this equipment before, and she could really care less. She stayed in a corner of the yard, lounging in the sun most of the time.

I was equipped with a pocketful of yummy treats, and Cassie and I set out on our afternoon adventure. It took us several tries for her to remember what she was doing, but eventually she got the hang of it. By the end of the day, she was running through the hoops on her own, and on command: "Over!" (Remember, she's supposed to be jumping "over" hurdles.)

Greta even gave it a try once she saw treats were involved. But she was a little too tall for the hoops and knocked them over every time she walked through one. But she was given a treat every time she successfully walked through a hoop. And that's all she cared about.

It was a glorious day.

• And on a completely unrelated note. I took Cassie took the vet yesterday to get a shot. This is one month after our last visit where she weighed 50.5 lbs. Yesterday she weighed 48.6 lbs! I was shocked!

Shameless plug

You all know I love dogs. And I also love graphic design. I have a freelance design business called I Do Designs. Those two worlds collided recently when a friend asked me to create a Pet Adoption Announcement for her. It's like a baby announcement, but for a four-legged friend. Head on over to my other site to check it out.