Pawlitics Introduction

I could tell on our first date that he liked politics.

Kegan was wearing a white Trey Hollingsworth t-shirt. For most of the date he did the talking. I’m not really shy, but I was nervous. If he was willing to talk, I was going to listen. And so he talked about working on the Luke Messer campaign, knocking doors, working for the Republican party…

On our second date, he wore the same Trey Hollingsworth shirt.

Okay, I’ll give him this; he has two identical Trey Hollingsworth shirts. He says he wore the other one. I don’t know how he could possibly tell them apart though.

Point being, I should have known what I was getting into. But for some reason… I didn’t take this as a warning and I stuck around anyway. And here we are, a year and four months later; I’m in love with him, and politics are part of him.

It isn’t that I don’t like politics… it’s just… I don’t love politics. I can have a half-educated discussion about some issues if I’m in the mood. I’m just not in the mood that often. It isn’t something I really get enjoyment out of, not like Kegan does.

There are few things I love like Kegan loves politics. For me, that thing I love, well…

It’s dogs.

Doggos, puppers, floofers, Fido, whatever you call them, I love them all.

Ironically, I didn’t really understand how much I loved dogs until my Yorkie Roscoe fell ill. I got Roscoe the year after my mother passed away, and he quickly became a huge part of my family. We grew up together, as if he were the little brother I never had.

In September 2019, Roscoe became so ill that I couldn’t watch him suffer any longer. It has only been a few months since he passed, and I still miss him every single day. I can’t stop thinking about how important dogs are in our lives and how they impact who we are as people.

So when Kegan mentioned this blog to me, a pun came to me right away. Pawlitics: a narrative series investigating dogs in politics. How have dogs influenced campaigns, politicians as people, or even elections? The goal of Pawlitics is to showcase the dogs behind the people who influence our governing bodies. Conservative dogs, liberal dogs, and undecided dogs: no dog left behind. More influence on the paw, less on the litics.

And if I’m lucky, I’ll meet some new dogs along the way.