There was once a time when along with a cat, five dogs ruled my household. It was chaos, it was messy, it was loud and I loved every moment of it.

Years later when in the span of only a couple months we lost our final three dogs, I was ready to take a break from the chaos. I allowed my hurt to prevent me from owning another dog. And so, my home became relegated into the status of no dogs.

Though my intention was always to one day get another dog. The often envisioned “one day” never seemed to come. Instead it sat perpetually on the horizon of my mind. A destination often dreamed about and yet never actually visited.

But the “no dog” status is a lonely place to dwell. And this is when Vito came along. Vito had already been in my son Caleb’s life for many years. But the last handful of years saw Vito splitting his time between his city home in Chicago with Dave and his country house in Kewanee with Caleb and me.

I found myself quickly becoming the overindulgent grandmother happily sneaking him treats and cuddles. Though his appearance and demeanor could be intimidating to those unfamiliar with him – those he loved he treated as if you were golden. I quickly grew to cherish the times he visited. Unfortunately, those times all too quickly came to an end when last fall Vito passed away. It was a bad month for my household.

But the one thing my time with Vito taught me was I didn’t want to live inside a “no dog” home anymore. And so propped in bed with the computer on my lap I started spending hours looking at available dogs in the various animal shelters and on Petfinder.

After a couple of inquiries I found my new baby, Mabel. Well actually her name originally was Bell. Now Bell is a perfectly nice name. Especially if you are starring in a musical opposite a Beast. But Bell didn’t quite follow my life’s trend of my pets having old people’s names. Ichabod. Gertrude. Elmer. Adalaide. Iola. You get the drift. Not wanting to confuse her too much I modified Bell to Maybelle to Mabel, and she never seemed to notice the difference.

Mabel is a black mouth cur from deep in the heart of Texas. The black mouth cur is a breed of hunting dog that has proven to make great family dogs. Her start in life was unhappy and hard. As a puppy along with her brothers and sisters they were abandoned living in a shack on the outskirts of town with no food or water. Neighbors noticed the puppies and quickly intervened, notifying a local rescue. Which is how I got her.

She came into my life on March 1. They estimated her age at 18 months. She was already housebroken, good with other animals and children. She is also beyond a doubt one of the sweetest dogs you’ll ever meet. She endures my over enthusiastic hugs. She doesn’t shudder when I sing songs to her or roll her eyes when I attempt to engage her in conversation. She also wears her large ostentatious bows with dignity and grace.

Her adoration for her big brother, Caleb is incredibly endearing, resulting with him turning her into a 55 lb. lap dog. One of her favorite pastimes is playing catch. Not fetch – too authoritative and demanding. Nope its catch. And she loves indulging her inner Gladys Kravitz by spying on the neighbors from behind the curtains. Convinced their simple actions like walking down the street has nefarious undertones.

She waits patiently on the front porch while I water my flowers and so far, she has not displayed any tendency to try and leave the yard and romp throughout the neighborhood. A trait each and every other dog that I’ve owned harbored.

My life has changed since she walked in the door. My furniture now sports protective covers. I spend a fair part of my time baking dog treats instead of cookies. My usual cologne is now overshadowed by the smell of mosquito spray that I have to saturate myself in before going outside to play catch. A routine we repeat many times throughout the day. I also don’t need an alarm clock in the morning as Mabel is more than happy to wake me even before the sun makes its appearance in the east. And I am loving every minute of our time together.

Yep, this is working out really well.