MARK MY WORD: PUPPY LOVE WINS OUT IN DOG-EAT-EVERYTHING WORLD

I've got another mouth to feed.

No, we don't have another child. We have a dog.

Yes, man's best friend has come to live at our house thanks to my wife and kids, who couldn't resist bringing home an 8-week-old puppy from the Humane Society animal shelter.

Their puppy love began the day before Easter. I guess it was better than bringing home the Easter bunny.

Becca, our oldest daughter, named the puppy, Rosie. The border collie-shepherd mix is black with a few white spots.

Becca is still a little bit wary of the dog, but 2-year-old Bailey loves to carry around Rosie in the same way that she hauls around her dolls.

I was reluctant to join the ranks of pet owners. I grew up in a home where fish were perfect pets.

You didn't have to pet them or take them for walks. You didn't have to worry about them doing their business on your carpet.

My wife, Joni, on the other hand, grew up with a whole zoo of pets.

I was at work when my family adopted Rosie. They tracked me down at lunch to tell me the good news.

"Is she potty trained?" I asked Joni when they first broke the news to me.

"Of course, not," Joni replied. "She's a puppy."

The advantage of kids, of course, is that they wear diapers. Dogs don't.

Fortunately, Rosie seems to have caught on to the fact that the carpet doesn't make a good toilet.

She appears to be doing a good job of fertilizing the lawn. Perhaps, she can go into the lawn business when she's older.

Of course, you can't be a good pet owner unless you have a lot of accessories like leashes, water bowls, puppy chow and the like.

Rosie sleeps in a kennel cab, one of those plastic cages. They come in all sizes.

Joni came home with a kennel cab that's larger than some Third World countries.

It currently is enshrined in our living room.

Rosie has found the couch to be a good chew toy. She also likes to chew on our socks, shoes, feet and anything else that comes in front of her nose.

It's a dog-eat-everything world in our house.

I'm convinced baseball was invented by a dog. Baseball coaches and players chew constantly during a game. Rosie would fit right in with everyone else in the dugout.

The World Book Encyclopedia devotes a whole section to dogs.

According to the reference book, dogs have been around 12,000 years, which is even longer in dog years.

"Body functions of a dog differ only slightly from those of a human being," the book says.

The biggest difference is that dogs could care less about Mexican food and they scratch more. Other than that, they're a lot like people.

One of my editors couldn't be happier about our new edition. She has a collie-shepherd mix for a pet too.

She tells me they are good at herding things, even children.

I'm not surprised. If you want to be man's best friend, herding children is a good way to start.

Perhaps, I could take some pointers from Rosie in this regard. Then, I might have something to really bark about.

~Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.