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| Young Buddy- curious about the camera |
It was a warm summer Saturday afternoon and we had been married for just over six months. We were bored inside our house and decided to go for a drive.
A few days before we exchanged vows we had closed on a little, tiny cottage house. And when I say tiny, I mean four hundred square feet of living space. HGTV would probably describe it as "The turn of the century cottage with lots of charm right in the heart of the city."
I think it used to be the guest house for the much bigger house next door. But it was a wonderful house for newlyweds. We only had a small yard to worry about, tons of privacy since we weren't living in an apartment and we had a great boulevard to walk on in the evenings.
But that day we had to escape the small confines. While we were out for a drive, for some reason, we started discussing dogs. If we should get one; if our house was big enough for having a pet; if we had the time. We both had dogs as kids and wouldn't mind eventually getting a dog for ourselves.
We stopped by a pet store, just to window shop. Inside there was a tiny dog, perfect for a small house and the idea started growing on us. Perhaps we could have a dog but we would have to get one that fit.
This dog though was not for us. She was tiny and just the right size but her attitude was horrid. Bark, bark, yip, yip and snap with razor sharp teeth. We tried to pet her. Snap, snap like a piranha. An ankle biter. I shuddered. I was not getting an ankle biter.
We left and decided to go to the Humane Society. But we weren't really going to adopt a dog today. After almost being attacked by a furious fish with legs, the idea of being responsible for an animal while we were in college and working maybe wasn't such a great idea after all.
The pound was loud and stinky. Even from the front room where papers were signed and the lives of cats and dogs were decided, you could hear the cacophony of dog barks from the kennels. It was deafening. Like a low roar that filled your ears and vibrated your chest. The smell was a mixture of dog; wet, dirty, poopy; and cleaning products. It wasn't a pleasant place.
We entered the kennel and headed for the first cage. I don't even remember the dogs in the first two cages. They were large and sad and I hope someone took them home. But we haven't even seen more than those two dogs when an angel appeared.
She was young, a teenager and had long blond hair. Her smile swept across her face and her eyes sparkled with intensity.
"I know the dog for you. Come here."
I shook my head in bemusement. "We're just looking."
"No, you have to come with me. I know what dog you need. He's perfect. You need to adopt him." She was confident and determined. I gave hero hottie a confused smile. He shrugged, looking just as puzzled as I felt. Who was this young girl?
"I know he's the right one for you. Follow me." She walked away, knowing that we would follow her.
And we did.
She stopped in front of a cage, a huge grin on her face as she pointed to the small pup inside the metal bars. He looked at us and then started throwing a toy around using all the puppy charm he possessed, which was quite a bit.
"See. He's perfect for you. You have to adopt him." She gave the puppy a dazzling smile and then pinned us with a look of pure determination. "He's perfect. You need to adopt him."
My heart was already melting at the sight of him. He was a rolly ball of gold puppy fur, quizzical black ears that arched every time something caught his attention, and his eyes were big with joy. He tossed his toys around, doing it higher and cuter, the more praise we gave him.
"You have to adopt him." She said again and then she disappeared around the corner. An angel with blond hair and stylish clothing.
"We can't." Hero hottie said, squatting down to touch the puppy through the cage. The puppy soaked it up, making faces at us, pawing at the cage, rubbing up against our hands.
"We have a private room so you can spend time with him." A Humane Society worker noticed that the puppy still held our attention after a few minutes.
I saw the warning glint in hero hottie's eyes. And knew just what he was thinking. We couldn't adopt such a large, fluffy puppy. He needed a house, not a cottage. He needed a yard, not a few patches of grass. But the puppy peered at us with his warm and curious brown eyes and we found ourselves telling the worker yes.
She takes him out of his cage and we go into the small room. "I'll leave you alone for a few minutes."
The puppy realized this was last chance to make an impression on us and he went into full 'I'm the cutest dog you have ever seen' mode. He played with his toys, tossing them about, pouncing on them, but he wasn't just playing. Every once and in a while, he would peek up at us, making sure he had our attention. And the more we laughed at his adorable antics, the faster he would do them.
Then a voice went over the intercom system and he froze, his ears arched up and a frown between his brows as he listened. His playfulness dimmed as he walked around the room, trying to figure out where the voice had come from. He looked at us, and the question was so deep in his little puppy dog face that even though he was a just a canine there was no doubt that he was trying to solve this mystery.
Hero hottie was sunk at that point. Not only was this puppy just about the cutest and most charming critter we had ever seen. This puppy was smart and curious.
I was lost by this point. There was no way I could let him go back to the cold, and barren cage that had been his home. He was going home with us. I just had to convince hero hottie that we could manage a puppy with paws that were quite large.
"We can't. He's going to be huge." Hero hottie shook his head. "Where would he play?"
"I could take him over to Mom's every day before work. He can play with her dogs. It would be like doggie daycare." I said, surprised that I would volunteer to take a dog to daycare every day but this puppy was special. I wasn't leaving without him.
"Everyday?" his eyebrows arched in disbelief. "Would your Mom even agree?"
"She won't mind and he would love to play with the other dogs." I petted the puppy behind his ears. He loved this and leaned into me.
"And we could walk him on the boulevard at night. He's so sweet." I added.
Indecision cross his face. Suddenly the idea we had been playing with could be real and we would be responsible for a puppy. Did we really want the work?
I held my breath waiting for hero hottie to agree with me. He still wasn't sure when he said yes but it was one of the best decisions we had ever made.
I felt giddy. This wonderful ball of soft fur was going to be ours. After filling out paperwork and paying our adoption fees, which stretched our budget for that week, we were after all students, we climbed into the car. The puppy sat on my lap, and he was busy loving me with little sniffs to my neck and his wet nose pressed against my skin. For some odd reason, he already loved us and was eager to go home with us. His fur was so soft and he had that puppy feel about him. We had to show him to our parents and took him to meet his 'grandparents'. Both sets were excited to meet such a charming dog.
He worked his magic on them too. Running around as fast as I had ever seen a puppy run and then tumbling into everyone's laps with this uninhibited expression of joy. This dog could bring a smile to your face no matter what mood you were in.
He had everyone laughing, his spirit was contagious. Everyone that met him, loved him. Even people that didn't like dogs.
Since he was so smart we wanted to give him a smarty sounding name like Einstein or Galileo but they didn't fit. So while Hero hottie tried to find him a name of a scientist we liked, we resorted to calling him Buddy.
And in time it stuck. Because he was everyone's Buddy. Dogs, cat, or person, he didn't care. He just wanted to make friends.
He quickly outgrew that cottage house. But even though his paws told tales of a bigger dog he didn't grow all that big. Perhaps he was like a goldfish and could only grow as big as his environment. I took him to doggie daycare every day while he was little and he loved the car rides over to my Mom's. The feeling was mutual, he was my companion. My Bud.
In the evenings we took him for walks on the boulevard. And on weekends when we stayed home, he would sit on the porch and spend hours watching the people and their dogs walking the tree lined boulevard. But he wasn't idly watching them, it was always with intense focus, like he was studying them. The dog was curious and lost in deep thoughts. I wished he could have shared. What does a smart dog think about?
I don't know who that girl was that was relentless with us at the pound. I like to think she was Buddy's angel, looking after him and making sure he went to the right people. I'm glad we were those people.
And perhaps she wasn't a heavenly angel, but an Earthly angel that just happened to say the right thing at the right time and changed the course of our lives.
Who ever she is, I thank her all the time.
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| Old Buddy still trying to figure things out |
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