Previous Challenge Entry
Topic: Pets (09/13/04)
TITLE: Requirements for the Perfect Puppy By Kristin Slavik 09/20/04 |
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Famous last words right? I began my search by looking at different pet stores around town. I decided that it would probably be best to get a dog that had been at a shelter. We would get a pet and the shelter would find a home for a dog that did not have one. It seemed to be a win/win prospect.
My kids found a shelter dog at a local pet store that seemed to be just what we were looking for. I had specified a medium sized, potty-trained dog (NOT PUPPY) that was preferably light in color. This dog was a one-year-old beagle mix that met all my requirements. My husband was still not sold, so we told the person from the shelter that we would be back in the morning.
After a long night of pleading my kids won my husband over. We would pick up ‘playdough’ the next day. They were so excited that they could hardly sleep! We went to the store after church the next morning only to find our hopes dashed. ‘Playdough’ had been sold. Riding home from the store you have never seen two sadder faces in your whole life. I decided that we had better find them a dog of their own quickly.
The next week, one of he shelters in our area had an ad on the internet for some puppies that had been born to a shelter dog. The ad said that they would be small dogs. The pictures were too cute to resist. I decided to break my ‘no puppy’ criteria and visit the puppies.
My next mistake was taking my kids with me to see the puppies. They were being fostered in a home rather than the shelter, so we went to a nice home to visit them. I knew I was in trouble as soon as I walked in. One of the puppies, a little black (another rule gone) bundle with bushy brown eyebrows had attached itself to my son. He followed my son everywhere around the house and yard.
By the time mom came out I knew I was doomed. The mother dog was this huge beast that came up to my thighs and eyed me protectively. This puppy was not going to be a small or medium sized dog. Absolutely not, I decided. I spun around to see my kids playing with the little thing that would not leave my son alone, and I melted. I could not break their hearts again. Astro was going home with us.
Now, a year and a half later, Astro has taken over our house. He now follows me around most of the time, and he is pretty good at catch. He lets my kids do just about anything to him and he loves to be in the middle of everything that they do. Even my husband has decided he likes him. He is a big dog, and he is a black dog. Like many things in life though I have found that Astro was exactly what we needed, whether he fit the requirements or not.