A Special Anniversary

Four years ago today, I brought my dog, Keller home from the shelter. I was living with my mom at the time and she had undergone major back surgery. During the weeks of recovery, she was totally bed-bound leaving me to do everything around the house and taking care of her, while working at my first professional job. She had to take several different medicines at all different times of day and night, so I had a ton of alarms set up, so I could wake up and give her her pills. It was a lot of work, but I didn't mind one bit. I get satisfaction out of taking care of others and, after all, she has done it for me my whole life. But when she was back on her feet, she decided that she wanted to do something for me as a thank you and she felt like it would be a better gift if it involved her making a sacrifice.


Mom never liked dogs and didn't want us to have one growing up. She knew that I would love nothing more to have a dog, so she decided that she would let me get one. I filled out an application at the local shelter and then went back every few days searching every run for just the right dog. There were a few that I had my eye on at various times, but they had inevitably always already been spoken for. Then one day I saw a brand new little thing that I knew I had to have. She was scruffy and dirty and just stayed in the corner of her run, rather than jumping at the gate like most of the others. She looked exactly like what a pound puppy should.


I immediately put my name on her, but couldn't even take her out of her pin for a few days, as they had to give time for an owner to claim her and do temperament testing before allowing her to be handled. I brought my mom by to see her and her response was something like "are you sure you want THAT dog?" I would sit outside her run, trying to entice her over so I could pet her through the chain-link, but all she ever did was cower in the corner. Finally the time came when I could take her out and she pretty much had to be dragged. The consensus of the workers at the shelter was that she had obviously been abused and she was going to take some time and a lot of work. I was in love.


About a week, and many visits later, she was spayed and ready to come home with me. It did take some work to get her to warm up, and she still has trust issues with strangers, but she has turned out to be a wonderful dog. She is so wonderful, in fact, that even my mom fell in love with her. When we moved out about seven months later, my mom missed Keller so much, that she tracked down a similar mix at another shelter and adopted it.


Keller is the perfect dog for me and I honestly couldn't imagine the past four years without her by my side. I'm so lucky to have a smart, loyal, fun, loving animal companion.