Two days ago the boys and I were coming home from the store. When we got into our neighborhood, I slowed the car down to take Henry's favorite "shortcut" (a trip around one of the silly medians they put all over our subdivision). All of a sudden this little black puppy comes running up to the car. Hmmm, not great. We were only about two houses away from home, so the puppy decides to follow us home. I opened the garage to pull in the car, the dog goes running in--sees our dog's food, and he's hooked. There's no getting rid of this guy now!
The boys and I walked all around the neighborhood asking people if they knew anything about this dog. It's not a really big neighborhood, so I figured someone would know something. But all I kept hearing was that it's pretty common to "dump" unwanted animals around here.
While we were walking around, a bug flew by and buzzed Henry's face. He's not such a fan of bugs, so he screamed, "Mommy, a bug, A BUG, help!" By this time the bug was long gone, of course. So I'm trying to tell him how bugs aren't really here to hurt us and blah, blah, blah, when all of a sudden Henry's face lights up. (I swear you could see the lightbulb above his head!) He says, "Hey, Mommy, I know what! We can call the puppy BUG!!!"
And so the puppy had a name. Now at this point the dog has been hanging around with us for a half hour and feels like he belongs with us. Not knowing what else to do, I let Elmer (our dog) come out front to meet him. They got along famously and started playing together.
I had to make a decision. The groceries needed taken in and put away and I needed to get dinner started. Do I leave this adorable little puppy out here all by himself and take a chance on him getting hit by one of the 30 or so work trucks that would be heading home soon? Obviously, my mind was already made up. I let him into the fenced backyard and put a sign up at the front of my neighborhood.
The kids like him and think he's "really cute" but they don't like to play with him because he jumps up and knocks them down. He looks exactly like our Elmer did as a puppy, so I kind of like him too. He has a really sweet personality too. I made him sleep outside the last two nights (remember, it's plenty warm here!) and he just curled up and went right to sleep, no barking or whining or scratching at the door or anything.
The only one who doesn't seem to like this new dog is Cricket, our cat. She and Elmer get along just great, but since Bug came into the backyard, we've only seen Cricket REALLY high up in the trees! She won't even come down for Henry and that cat will do ANYTHING for Henry! :)
If nobody calls to claim him this weekend we'll probably try to find him a home pretty soon (before we all get TOO attached!). Anyone out there looking for a sweet little puppy?
