Edmund’s sparse belongings (No clothes or furniture for this dog!)

Have you seen the ridiculous amount of doggie paraphernalia some people have for their dogs? You’d think there was a baby in the house. We, of course, have just the bare essentials for Edmund. No clothes. No doggie furniture. No silliness. No siree.

The Thundershirt, a medical device, not doggie clothes!

Now you might think that Thundershirt is a piece of clothing, but it’s really a medical device. A medical necessity. Whenever a storm was brewing, poor Edmund started shivering and shaking and crawled under the desk with all the comforting computer wires. Thus the Thundershirt, which cinches tight and calms the limbic system. Works, too, especially if you also let him sit on your lap and share a calming banana.

Also the red plaid diapers… I mean pants… do not really count as clothing. The breeder gave them to us, and we really had to take them. They were a gift, and she would have been offended if we’d refused them. Edmund doesn’t wear them much anymore. Just when he is being dogsat at the neighbor’s house, where he would like to leave his mark to show that uppity French dog who the house really belongs to.

So that’s two small pieces of non-clothing. The halter lined with the fluffy stuff, which attaches to the shoulder belt when he rides in the car, does not count as clothing.

Edmund really doesn’t have much else in his diaper bag… I mean shopping bag. Just diapers (panty liners), Rescue Remedy for anxiety (like when facing Grandma’s cats), nail clippers and buffers, powder for stopping the bleeding if Julie cuts his nails, his everyday leash, his nice leather leash, his slip leash, his brush, his comb, his toothbrush, his chew toy, his Dino toy, his Pinky toy, his balls, his blanket and a few other things.

Edmund doesn’t really have much other stuff. Not like some dogs, which have all sorts of ridiculous furniture. He has a baby gate for his jail stays in the bathroom, his staircase up to his bay window command center (Mr. Breeder was quite concerned about Edmund’s spinal column if he had to JUMP up on the window, so we were thrilled to find the staircase for $2 at a yard sale) and his folding bed (which was $4 on sale at Marshalls… when we just happened to pass by the doggie section), his folding metal travel kennel, his big honking plastic kennel (which used to be Josie’s)…

Dog house

And most recently, he has his travel dog house, which we’ve gone camping in twice now. Yeah, we bought it off a guy who’d just bought a bigger one and wanted to get rid of it. It’s really a necessity for sleeping in at David’s Grandma’s house, where those two huge, hissing cats live in the house. (Grandma puts them in the basement, but they stick their head out the cat hole in the basement door and hiss at small dogs. Very catty. That’s what they are.) And the dog house on wheels is just right for Jeff and Edmund to escape to when Julie gets upset about Edmund sleeping on her side of the bed… again!