girl’s best friend

 

One of my very favorite things about going home is seeing my puppy.

 

When I was a junior in high school, my brother and I tried so very hard to convince our parents to let us have a puppy. At the time, we already had a dog, but he was getting old and had already suffered a herniated disc in his back. Despite our love for him, we wanted a dog who could run and play with us. My mom finally "instructed" my dad to take us to the humane (or as we later discovered, not-so-humane society) to LOOK at the puppies.

Once there, we peered into a cage that contained 3 puppies- 2 were obviously brothers, and the other was a husky mix. We first walked one of the brothers. He was sweet, but a little too calm for our taste. My brother and I went back and had a look at the second brother, who was all black with white front legs and white hind paws. "Look at his 'socks!' " I exclaimed. Maybe by now you can guess where this story is about to lead…

We took him outside and he was the boldest, most energetic puppy we had ever seen. As we went back inside, my dad started telling us how we had to put the puppy back. I held the little guy close as we tried to persuade him that this was the perfect dog and we couldn't just leave him behind.

"What a cute puppy!" A lady walking by commented. Both my brother and I knew that we couldn't put him back in his cage now, that lady would snatch him up and he would never be ours.

Being such convincing kids (maybe we should've grown up to be lobbyists) we finally managed to get our dad to agree to adoption.

Here's our little "Socks"…

Socks and Barney…

We loved him so much from the start, but he was actually a very sick little guy. Just a few days after bringing him home, he couldn't seem to stop . Mom called the vet, who said to bring him in immediately. Socks was diagnosed with the deadly Canine Parvovirus, and was hospitalized for a week. Miraculously, he came home.

And now, nearly 5 years later, he is still my buddy. My dog always remembers who I really am and never stops loving me, even if I'm in a bad mood or make mistakes. Dogs see straight to your heart, and that's why I love them.