Puppy Breath

Hi,
I am sharing one I got and love.  If you haven't seen it already, I think you will really enjoy it!

Love,

Merry

PUPPY BREATH
by Earla Jean Hollon

      In early March, the day after we sadly put Bear, our 14 year old
Goldie down, my husband had to go out of state for work.
      Abby, our 11 year old Lab/Shepherd mix, was sad.  In two days
she had lost Bear, her life long companion, and then my husband.
      I tried to compensate by taking her for two walks and two car
rides a day instead of one, but overnight Abby started acting old.
She moved slowly and stiffly, turned her nose up at her doggie treats
and just seemed depressed.
      I took her to the vet for a checkup, and we put her on arthritis
medicine but she continued moving slowly.
      On June 9th, as a lark, I looked on the website for available
dogs at our local Animal Shelter.  There were three nice looking dogs
-- a Golden Retriever, a female Lab and a two year old male yellow
Lab.  I thought to myself, and said, "No, no more dogs."
      On June 10th,  I took Abby to the vet as she did not seem to be
improving.  He said he thought that Abby was depressed.  Abby and I
left the vet's office and I drove straight to our local Animal
Shelter and asked to see the Goldie, but he had been sent to the
rescue group three days earlier.  Then I asked to see the black Lab,
but she had been adopted.
      Finally, I asked to see the yellow Lab.  After a few minutes,
the door opened and in walked some of the biggest paws on a dog that
I had ever seen.  Then I noticed huge head and long skinny body.  I
first thought, oh no,  don't think so.  But to be fair to the dog, I
thought I'd give him a chance.
      He started sniffing Abby, she sniffed him back, slowly wagging
her tail.  She liked him.  I said OK, I'll take him.  I drove him
straight to Petco and had Cody engraved on his name tag.  Once the
cashier found out Cody was newly adopted she gave me a nice little
coupon book that was full of free and/or discounted stuff for dogs.
It was fun picking out different treats for Cody.
      Abby and Cody were friends from the start, and sure enough, Abby
got back a little spring in her step.
      But it's not the end of the story.
      Even though Cody is 2-years-old, he is all puppy.  Neither Abby
nor I can match Cody's energy.  I was whining on the phone to my
husband about how Cody was so energetic, that he wanted to play all
of the time and I just needed some down time.
      The next day, I woke up to drizzling rain and thunder.  I
bundled the dogs into the car for our Starbucks run.  I get a coffee
and the dogs share a bagel.  I hadn't gone far when I noticed a small
yellow puppy running down the middle of the road.  By the time I got
close to her, she had veered off of the road and into a yard.
      I turned around in the next driveway.  I pulled to the curb and
opened my car door.  She started running for the car, trying to climb
over me to get inside.  I took her home and spent the next few days
looking for her owner.  I called every vet within a 10 mile radius
and the Golden Retriever Recovery Program, because she looks like a
3-4 months old Goldie.  No one had reported missing a puppy.
      So now I have three dogs.  I've named her Millie.  I don't know
why I couldn't just drive on past her.  Maybe because I've seen how
afraid Cody is of thunder.  He tries to hide whenever it thunders,
and he's now a 90 pound dog and and she's just a small 15-20 pound
puppy.
      Maybe it's because I knew chances were that if I didn't stop she
might be dead before dark.  A lot of cats and dogs get killed on that
road.  Maybe it was because I know how my old, run-down neighborhood
has an overabundance of Pit Bulls and I know that many of the
neighbors purposely draw out their aggressive behavior.
      Or maybe, it's because I somehow knew that I would love how
Millie will run and jump in my lap after playing rough house with
Cody for several minutes -- looking at my face afterwards, with her
mouth open and her tongue hanging out, reaching up and kissing me.
      I cansmell a faint whiff of puppy breath and there's nothing
else like it in this world.

              -- Earla Jean Hollon  <Ehollon at fulbright.com>

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Earla says, "I live in Pasadena, Texas, with my very patient husband
and a small zoo -- dogs, cat, turtles, parrots, and sugar-gliders.  I
have loved animals all my life and have rescued, adopted many of my
pets and found homes for several others."

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