Contrast Essay: Jordan and Miley

Contrast Essay:

JORDAN AND MILEY
I’ll admit that I’m a golden retreiver fanatic! Don’t get me wrong; I like all dog species but I just melt whenever I see a golden retriever. When I see a golden with their owner I will typically go over and say to the owner “what a gorgeous dog”--just to sort of feel the owner out to see if it’s ok for a stranger to pet their prize posession. Then, I’ll lean over and pet the dog’s head and scratch behind it’s ears. I will carry on a conversation with the owner about my retrievers in an effort to stay awhile longer to socialize with the dog. Within the past twenty years I have been very fortunate to have owned two golden retrievers. Jordan, my first golden, lived to be eleven years of age. Miley, is currently three and will be lucky to live to age four. Jordan had a few bad habits that could easily be overlooked. However, Miley is completely different than Jordan. I hope you find the following differences between my two “girls” to be somewhat amusing.

Jordan was a birthday present from my husband before we were married. I saw the ad in the Bangor Daily News, rode to Amherst and paid two hundred dollars to pick out the little ball of fur. Her mother was well cared for and this was her first litter of healthy pups. Miley, on the other hand, was born at the Lincoln Humane Society. Her mother was rescued from a family that used her as a “puppy mill”--and was on her fourth litter of pups. It had been two years since Jordan had passed away and I didn’t care about the circumstances with the pups….I wanted to get another golden retriever to fill the void of losing Jordan; so thirty dollars was spent along with a promise that I would have her spayed--and Miley had a home.

Jordan was very easy to house train. I remember spending a few weeks outside on cold fall nights with my bedroom slippers on and bathrobe walking around the lawn with her saying…”ya gotta go pee?” hoping that she’d catch on. It took a couple of weeks and she did. I took her to obedience classes when she was six months old--she disliked this so much that she chewed up her diploma on the way home from class. I’m sure that Jordan didn’t know what to think when my first child, Tyler, was born in 1999. She sat by my side all hours of the night with her head tilted off to the side whenever he would cry. Tyler learned how to crawl at eight months. Jordan would lie on the floor and he would crawl up on her side and use her to keep his balance. Pretty soon, Katelyn came along in 2000. Jordan had her hands full with lapping the floor from where the baby food spilled from Katelyn, and being Tyler’s buddy when he decided to wander around on the front lawn. Jordan would sit in the lake at camp with the kids for hours on end--and when they finally decided to call it a day…she would, too. She was very protective around my children. If they decided to swim out beyond the wharf when they were eight and nine years old--she would bark nonstop until they came back in closer to her. Jordan would steal a hunk of meatloaf off of your plate if you turned your back from her and she had a bad habit of easily grabbing onto peoples sleeves whenever company would show up. However, I forgot about all of that when she snuggled in bed with me. My heart broke when I found her lifeless on my bedroom floor. I knew that the rust colored fur had turned white--that she had had a hard time “keeping up” with us walking on the camp road one week earlier. It seemed so unfair to see your best friend go just like that--but I often reflect about what a wonderful life she had with us; as we had with her.

Miley was adopted in November of 2008. I remember pacing outside trying to get her to pee and poop for one to two months. She would have good days; and other days would go outside and pee only to come inside and poop in a corner somewhere. She was the typical pup who liked to play and was full of vigor but seemed to have more aggressiveness in her compared to Jordan. She had plenty of dog toys but preferred to chew up the kids sneakers, my socks and personal undergarments, my husbands hats, the kids toys, etc. I cannot leave anything on the sideboard for food or she will jump up and cruise around the sideboard and scoffle down anything that she can find. I have to keep a baby gate against our trash bin or she will dive into it and strew trash throughout the house. She likes to steal the tub of butter off of the kitchen table if left unattended. She will run downstairs where my laundry shoot is and will grab wash cloths and chew holes in the center of them. However, she loves to be with the kids and helps me say goodnight to them each night. She lays on the floor next to my bed and when my husband leaves for work she quickly jumps into bed and snuggles with me--like Jordan used to. Miley will leap out the window of my SUV when we arrive at camp and will dash into the lake with the kids. She will chase down frogs along the shoreline but still keeps a watchful eye on the kids and will hang around the water until they get ready to get out--similar to Jordan.

As you can see, Jordan and Miley are Goldens but their personalities are very different from one another. I know that Miley’s bad habits have been a struggle for me, however, at the end of the road I am sure that I will be just as heartbroken when her life is gone. I will just reflect on the wonderful life she’s had with us; and us with her. I have found my two Goldens to both be faithful companions, the “twenty-four hour babysitters“, the snugglers, the keeper of secrets…..the trusted friend.