Puppy Love

I grew up without ever having a pet. We were a family of 5 children and looking back, I’m surprised the subject never came up. But, it didn’t.

By the time I was an adult I just wasn’t all that interested. I would watch people walk their dogs and stand and wait while the dog did his thing and then have to scoop the mess up in a little plastic bag and think “Who would want to do that day after day?”

Brittany’s friend recently bought a two-month-old Jack Russell Terrier. She went with him to pick up the dog from Georgia and emailed me about 20 pictures of Addison (Addie).

She did look tiny and cute.

A couple weeks later the friend was passing by close to Hickory and wanted to stop to introduce us to Addie “while she was still a puppy.”

There had never been a dog in our house before. I have white carpets and white sofas. But, he walked in carrying this tiny little thing that only weighed 2.7 lbs and had huge brown eyes and a tail that wagged a mile a minute and put her in my arms…and I was hooked!

I was surprised by how light she was. She immediately burrowed her long nose into the crook of my elbow and went to sleep. I figured that meant she trusted me. I carried her the whole visit except when I thought she might be thirsty and filled a small bowl of water and stood her on the floor next to it. She drank for several minutes and I found myself entranced watching her! On her 4 little feet she was even cuter than rolled up in a sleepy ball.

I hated to give her back at the end of the visit! The following week Brittany called and said they were going to her friend’s dad’s horse farm the next Saturday and could they spend Friday night with us on the way. I said of course and she warned, “We’ll have Addie.”

I said “Great!” I couldn’t wait to see her again. And when they left her with us to run some errands I got down on my hands and knees to play tug of war with her. Sometimes I just followed her around while she explored. (Even on the white carpets!)

It finally made sense to me why people treated their dogs like family.

I’m not sure if this has made me a dog lover or not, but I do know that this particular dog has totally won my heart!