Pregnancy and Dog Food

Well, something exciting happened today. I went to the gym. It was only for 30 minutes on the elliptical machine, but hey! It was the first time I've been motivated to do this in months! Given my current tendency to crave creamy chocolately sweets 24/7, any time spent at the gym is a good amount of time.

It was on the elliptical machine catching up on cable TV that I rediscovered a problem I have during pregnancy - dog food. Actually, dog food commercials. Maybe it's the hormones. Maybe it's because I love my dogs. But when I'm pregnant, dog food commercials make me cry. Consistently. This is my third pregnancy, and the third time I'm crying about kibble.

Ok, it's not the kibble itself. The last times, it was about the shelter dogs. Shelter dogs that were waiting and waiting for loving homes. (sniff) Sweet doggie faces that just wanted someone to love them. (sniff sniff) Sweet innocent animals that reminded me of my Mandy and Cameron. (sniff sniff SOB gulp) If I just bought their dog food, they'd donate money to help give those dogs a home! (BOO HOO HOOOOO!) Dang, those commercials got me every time... I'd be there sobbing on the couch for no good reason.  I couldn't even DESCRIBE the commercial to someone without tearing up. It was pitiful, really...

But this one's a little different. Maybe because it's an Irish Wolfhound and I drool over insanely large dogs? Maybe because the dog's waiting so patiently at the window for his human to come home? (sniff) Maybe because the human's a woman in military fatigues that just came home after a really long absence and I know that the dog has been desperately missing her every day she's been gone? (sniff sniff GULP) And then they let the dog out the front door and he goes running up to her and jumps up on her and he's taller than she is and they hug and he licks her face like crazy and he lays down and she rubs his belly. (sob sob SOB!) And you can see the doggie joy in his face because he's so devoted to her and he's missed her so much and he's just SO HAPPY she's finally home! (excuse me while I go find a box of tissues...)

Ok, I'm back. BestestHusband thinks I'm a bit nuts to cry so much over silly dog food commercials. But I think the commercials are specially targeted towards pregnant dog owners. We are the ones more likely to buy the dog food in the average household. I think they've just fine-tuned their marketing message to manage to make us putty in their hands. It's working.

So if you see me crying in the gym, don't worry. I probably just saw this Iams commercial.