Finally Home-Lessons on Life from a Free-Spirited Dog Read Free Page A

hear his desperate barking as the door closed behind us. I was thinking, “No way.” There was no feasible way we would be able to accommodate the needs of this crazy, disobedient dog. I was already onto my next thought of what to do for the remainder of the day and not even thinking that adopting him was a remote possibility.
    When we reached the bottom of the driveway, I playfully posed the question to Michael. I just wanted to gauge his reaction and wholeheartedly expected him to laugh.
    “So, what do you think?”
    His answer was the complete opposite of what I was expecting. “Absolutely, let’s adopt him.”
    When I heard his response, I got a bit lightheaded and immediately started to have a lack of confidence in my dog-training ability. To say I was stunned would be an understatement. I never predicted that would be his answer. I looked at Michael to try and determine if he were serious. Why was he joking like this?
    I love all dogs, regardless of the breed, but Michael had never owned a dog. I thought this dog of all dogs would be a complete turn-off. I envisioned Michael’s “starter dog” to be somewhat calm, well-behaved, and easy to manage.
    Instead, his reply was, “Let’s call them first thing tomorrow to let them know we will adopt him.”
    While I was undoubtedly thrilled with the idea, I still had my concerns about handling such a crazed animal. Growing up, we had many family dogs, but I was the youngest in the family and never spent time training them. They just always seemed well-behaved. I usually spent time playing with them and never questioned it. This would be my first real test at responsibility, and we would have to figure out how to train him. He would not just “magically” become obedient. Was I up for the proposed challenge? Was Michael?
    Still in awe and feeling mixed emotions of joy and trepidation, I made the phone call once we got home rather than waiting until the next morning. With an obvious tremble in my voice, I let them know that we would happily adopt Buddy. Little did I know that one phone call would be the one that changed our lives.
    We made plans to pick him up on Thursday evening after work. I could not ascertain why, but I was nervous all week and could not wait to get him. I felt like I was expecting a baby—albeit an eighty-pound baby with lots of fur, but a baby nonetheless. I was also extremely happy. I don’t think I slept at all that week!
    I recall that I had stopped at a local pet store prior to his adoption and walked up and down the aisles in a cosmic daze. Without knowing what he liked, I picked up a small bag of food, a variety of treats, stuffed animals, and various squeaky toys of different shapes and sizes. I could not concentrate in anticipation of adopting this crazed pup.
    We cleaned the entire house and doggy-proofed it the best that we could. We had it all meticulously planned out. Michael, his niece, and I were going to take two cars. Michael would drive home in his car with the crate and all of Buddy’s belongings. Michael’s niece and I would drive home with Buddy. We would then have a few quality hours to spend with him during the night.  What do they say about the best laid plans?

Chapter 2- Thursday December 21 st , 2000
    The shortest day of the year.  The official Winter Solstice.  The longest drive home.   The day Michael and I officially became insane.
     

    That evening, w e arrived at Buddy’s house , and to our surprise, his owners were not home . Instead, one of their relatives was there waiting for us. She was very kind and gave us all of Buddy’s toys, food, treats, blankets, and his crate at no charge. She went over his feeding schedule with us as well as the commands that he knew. She showed us his veterinary papers proving he was up to date with all of his shots and gave us some other papers, including the name of his breeder, his first owner, the toys he like d, and other random information. This dog probably cost them