David Campbell: ‘I may love my dog more than my kids’
Earlier this year, television host David Campbell got a new puppy. But, as all pet owners know, welcoming an additional member of the family took some getting used to...
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A few months back I finished a column about my house being broken into while my family was asleep inside. At the end of it I said, “So, we are going to get a puppy.”
Well, we did. It certainly wasn’t impulsive. We had been discussing adding a furry member to our family for more than a year.
I had two dogs growing up and am very much a dog person. My wife is a cat person (something she didn’t disclose early in our dating life).
My kids are nervous around dogs. This is probably due to my dad’s two schnauzers who were loud barkers and more than slightly territorial whenever we went to his house.
So actioning a dog in our home had many variables attached. There was anxiety all round as we committed, then waited to pick her up.
A week before we met our fur baby, my dad lost the second of his dogs to old age. It broke him in a way thatI had not seen... and I’d lived through both of his books.
What are we doing? Setting up our children for extreme pain and loss? What if all the barking from the pair who had just gone to the big dog park in the sky had scarred my kids permanently?
It also didn’t help my creeping nausea when friends would say, “Mate, you just got through toddler twins! Have you got amnesia? You are going to go through all that again!” Gulp.
So here I sat on the kitchen floor of a strange house with my wife, and in walked Scully. She had no idea how much was riding on her little furry shoulders.
Sniffing our hands she lay down, putting her head on my thigh — and it all evaporated.
We brought Scully home to kids who were dying to meet her. They were also desperate to get over their jumpiness at dogs, and she helped them.
What I haven’t told my kids yet, which I will confide in you is... I love this puppy.
More than my kids? Look, let’s be honest, it depends on the day. I have gone through terrible twos and threes (three times).
Sleep trained more times than I care to count (thanks Leo and Billy). Toilet trained for what is now going on for seven straight years.
Do they jump up to greet me when I enter a room? No. Do they lie on my lap when I watch telly at night while I stroke them? Negatory.
Do they sit and stay when told? No way.
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This bundle of fur has won my heart, and in three short weeks taken the crown of house favourite. Even my wife, the cat lover, has gone all Donny Osmond with her puppy love.
We are sensible parents. Hard working (show) business people and we are Googling cool outfits for our favourite child to wear. I have set up an Instagram account. For. My. Dog. Truly tragic.
Late at night, when the other three are in bed, I start to look at dog shows. Could ours be Best In Show one day at Crufts? Have I gone too far? Probably.
I’m a dog dad now. She has calmed our home in more ways than I could’ve hoped. Leo is busy training her.
Betty thinks she has a sister and Billy, the most nervous of them all, lies down next to Scully when she has a dog nap to keep her company.
So thank you, Scully, for choosing us. We promise to be good to you if you promise to wee outside.
David co-hosts Today Extra, 9am Monday — Wednesday, and Weekend Today, 7am weekends, on the Nine Network.