• BY APRILL BRANDON - ABRANDON@VICAD.COM
• Originally published January 12, 2010 at 5:03 p.m., updated January 13, 2010 at 9:30 a.m.

It was just your typical weekday evening.

I was sitting on the couch after dinner wearing what I affectionately call "my big girl clothes" (which are essentially anything with an elastic band that don't make me feel guilty for having those two pieces of pie...OK three ... stop judging me). My two dogs were in their favorite positions, splayed across various parts of my body. I had just popped a movie in and was preparing to enjoy two mindless hours.

And then, Richard Gere ruined my night.

Now, this is not the first time Richard Gere has ruined my night. In fact, "Nights in Rodanthe" actually destroyed my whole week (and gave me saccharin poisoning). But this is the first time he did it in under two minutes (insert obligatory "that's what she said" joke here).

Yes, all it took was seeing a preview of the 2009 film "Hachiko: A Dog's Story" starring Mr. Pretty Woman and the rest of my relaxing evening was spent tearing up every time I thought about it.

For those of you that haven't heard about this movie, it's based on the true story of a dog named Hachiko in 1920s Japan that used to wait for his master at the train station every single day. Cute, right? That is until one day his master died. Yet, the dog kept waiting at the train station. Every single day. For the next 10 years.

And then the dog died. At the train station. Still waiting for his master.

Oh for Pete's sake, I'm even tearing up just writing about it.

I will never watch this movie and it's for a very good reason. It's the same reason I have yet to garner the courage to watch "Marley & Me." Or make it through one of those sappy Sarah McLachlan commercials about animal cruelty. Or ever re-read "Where the Red Fern Grows."

It's because I am a Dog Person.

Now Dog People are more than just mere dog owners. Dog owners love their dogs. Dog People love all dogs. A lot. We're the kind of people who pick up strays off the street. We stop you and your dog on your walk so we can "ooh" and "aah" over them. We find it impossible not to say things in baby talk to them, such as "Aw, you're such a cute wittle puppy. Aren't you? Yes, you are a cute wittle puppy."

We even bestow onto our dogs the highest honor we can think of, which is to generally name them after our favorite TV/movie characters.

And as if all that wasn't enough, we also treat our own dogs as part of the family.

For instance, we talk to our dogs as though they are our children.

"Buffy! Did you pee on the floor? Why did you do that? Mommy taught you better than that!"

We talk to other people about our dogs as though they are our children.

"Oh, did I tell you? My little Boba Fett did the cutest thing the other day. He was chasing his ball and ran right smack into the fridge. It was so adorable."

We even talk to children about how much our dogs are better than them.

"Oh really, Timmy? You can count to 10? Well, that's nothing. My dog, Captain Picard, can shake hands and swing his tail like a helicopter. So...yeah."

Of course, we understand that as Dog People, we can be annoying at times (such as when we show you the 200 photos we just developed of 'ol Buffy-poo wearing a funny hat and sunglasses). This is particularly true for non-Dog People, such as Cat People and Pet Rock People.

And yet, while our canine devotion may be hard to understand for others, to us Dog People, it doesn't matter. We understand that even though this is an animal that will, if given the chance, eat its own poop, it's also an animal that will faithfully wait for us every day, even if we never show up.

And an animal like that deserves to be loved to no end.

Aprill Brandon is a reporter for the Advocate. Her dog Buffy is just the cutest wittle puppy in the world. Yes him is. Such a pwetty wittle puppy.

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