DOG FOR A DAY

I woke up this morning and started the coffee brewing like every other day of my life, then woke the boys for breakfast. I started my day of preparing for work and was in the bathroom getting ready when I heard Micah running to me. He was watching television, the morning news, and they have a spot on there for adopting animals from the shelters. Micah was excited and nearly panting, "Memaw, Memaw, come look, you've got to get me that dog". There was a dog showcased from the local Dallas pound. I didn't make it on time to see it before they had moved on to the weather. I asked Micah what the dog looked like and did it have a name. He didn't get the name, but said I had to go to the pound and get him that dog!

I thought about that dog all day, but finally decided it was not a good time for us to have a dog right now. We, as a family, had enough on our plates and and added responsibility wasn't a good idea, so I promptly dismissed the whole thing and shifted the guilt away.

When I drove up the driveway that evening there sat Micah, Pawpaw and Logan with a dog. They were all excited, even the dog. The dog was licking them and squirming all over the place. He was giving those boys his full attention and showering his puppy love all over them. All eight eyes looked expectantly at me. Micah said, "We've named him rags because his ears look like rags, can we keep him Memaw"? Logan was petting the dog and smiling his little elfish smile at me.

The dog was a full blood bassett hound with paws as big as my fists, floppy ears that dragged the ground and the color of warm chocolate, so cute, and I swear he was smiling! They found him walking up our driveway when they arrived home after picking Micah up from class. I kept looking at that dog and thinking $$$$$ signs; shots, getting him fixed, fence, food, training, fleas and then I looked again at the happy faces and decided to go in and look up crate training on the Internet.

There I found it! A whole book about crate training. I printed it out and used up 1/2 a cartridge of ink, but it was interesting and looked like it could work. The boys came in to see what I was doing and Pawpaw too. I said okay, we have to find a crate tonight! We left the dog on his own too long (about 5 minutes) and when we went out to get him he was gone - - disappeared. I called, "Rags, rags--come rags". I whistled - - no response. Pawpaw put the boys in the truck and drove around the neighborhood, but alas no dog! I explained to the boys that perhaps Rags had another little boy somewhere and he had gone home, and if not he would probably come back to us since he got such a warm reception at our home.

The dog never came back, but at least the boys did have a dog for a day!