There have been a few times that I knew I loved Bender. Before I even met him I was having nightmares about losing him.

The day I did finally meet him I could have cried tears of joy…or pain due to the whole hair chewing situation….or sadness due to the watching him beg to go inside and then pee and poop on the rug situation…hard to say. But it makes my heart hurt looking at his little face.

Then there was the time he devoured a corn cob and I rushed to the internet to see if he’d be ok. Turns out that was a mistake, the internet is a horrifying place. It decidedly told me he wouldn’t survive the night. I called my mom in tears and inspected way more poop than any person should have to.

But today I think I discovered real love. We put Bender in his crate around 10:30. He cried yelped, whined, howled, barked, and bayed till eleven. Then woke up again half an hour past midnight. He sleeps in his crate in the living room, which he hated at first but has been getting way better at. He wasn’t having it.

Heart aching from the previous half hour stint of howling, and already having decided that starting tomorrow night he sleeps in our room, end of story, I lept up to get him and take him out.

I’m not one to wake up early but for this guy I’m out of bed in seconds all hours of the night and morning. So I think a lot of that is love. Heartaches, tears, internet searches, early rising, poop inspection.

But I think the real telltale sign came after I let him back in. I took him downstairs to the basement and slept on the couch next to him so all three of us could get some sleep.

Just as I was dozing off he let one rip. I’m not talking one of those infamous silent but deadly dog farts. This was so loud I woke with start, and so did he. I sat for 2 or 3 excruciating seconds. You know what I mean. Where you sit and hope that it’s going to be one of those innocuous farts. The occasional acceptable bowel situation that’s alarmingly loud but odorless instead of silent but deadly.

It wasn’t one of those.

Holy shit. It was horrifying.

It didn’t end there. He fired off audible stink bombs for at least twenty minutes. These farts are the kind that make you cry. It hurts to breathe. I cowered under the blanket one hand on his head one covering my nose.

So I think that’s love.