In my adult life, I've only ever had cats. I had a romanticized idea about how much I really wanted to have a dog.

Then I moved in with my boyfriend and his 1 1/2 year old Australian Cattle Dog.

She can be a lot of fun, definitely. But she wakes you up early, and when she wakes you up, she doesn't just want to be fed. She wants you to feed her, and then take her out, and in pretty short order, take her on a walk.

She gets four walks a day or she's a rampaging maniac. Four walks a day in heat, snow, rain, sleet ... she's more reliable than the post office.

I miss having a cat, who occasionally wants to play with you but mostly just wants to lay around. I can relate to a cat.