My Mom, Jeanette, is a huge animal lover, just as I’m sure anyone who is reading this has in common with her. After her beloved little Yorkie Joey died about 7 years ago, she vowed, as many of us have, never to get another dog because of the inevitable grief that comes with their passing.  She said she simply was not ready to give her heart to another dog…….that was until of course, Ralphie came into her life……………….
Being from a family who has only gotten dogs from shelters & rescues, I was friends with a woman who ran a shelter whom I ran into shortly after Joey’s passing.  I told her of my Mom’s recent loss & seeing an opportunity to place one of her never ending supply of  homeless dogs she told me about “Hobo”.  Hobo was what you might call a hard to place dog.  He was a less than perfect looking adult dog that had been abandoned.  He had been dubbed Hobo because he was  left in an unsheltered crate during the middle of the night in a cruel Chicago, below zero, snow storm at the back door of a closed Veterinary clinic.  He had no name, no story & no information what-so-ever of what had been his previous existence.  We were told that his age was approximately 7 years.  As it turns out, he was significantly older.  He was being kept at the veterinary clinic at which he was abandoned & would not eat for them.  He was badly in need of someone to love him.   (more…)

My puppy.  That\’s what I calle him, Puppy.  When my son brought him home more than twelve years ago he didn\’t yet have a name, so we just called him Puppy.  Now \”puppy\” is interchangeable with the name we eventually gave him, Calvin.  I was working evenings and typically came home after everyone else was in bed.  My ten year old son woke me up one morning before leaving for school and asked if he could have a puppy.

He spoke quickly with no pauses between thoughts.  He told me that \”the lady next door to the school has some puppies, and they\’re really cute, and my friends and I played with them and she told us that we could each have one if we wanted one, and . . .\”  I thought that was devious of her to bring a litter of pups to the school playground to get the kids to fall in love with them and take them home.

I told him that we didn\’t have room for a dog.  We didn\’t have a fenced in yard; I didn\’t want a dog indoors all the time, but I didn\’t like the idea of chaining a dog outside either.  \”But I really want one and I\’ll take care of it, can\’t I just have a little one?\”  Calvin was little, but he didn\’t stay that way.  he eventually became seventy pounds of four wheel drive straining at his leash. (more…)