Who's the Rescue Here?

When we wrote Follow the Dog Home, I told everyone that they would see themselves and their stories in ours.  Here's just one example of that.

Several months ago my neighbor, Bob, lost his beloved Bulldog named, Shakespeare.  Shakespeare was as cool as his name.  He'd ride with Bob to the town dump every morning.  A Bulldog riding shotgun in a white pickup truck?  He really was a junkyard dog.  It was a crushing loss when Shakespeare passed away, and Bob wasn't really sure he could go through the pain of losing another dog--which always happens somewhere down the road.  Eventually the loneliness wore him down.  A couple of days ago I saw Bob walking a new dog, a rescue named, Marlo.  Bob and Marlo looked so happy together.

Bob and Marlo

Bob's story reminds me of another Bob--my dad.  Like my neighbor, Dad went through a tough stretch after losing what he thought was going to be his last dog.  It's hard for us to imagine why Dad was so sad about losing Daisy the Dalmatian, because that dog was almost impossible to love.

Crazy Daisy

If you touched Daisy, she went bonkers.  In the book, my brother Mike describe it as something close to living with a wild animal, not a pet. Somehow Dad loved this troubled dog and took her loss very hard.  He admits he was in a funk for months after her death.   It got bad enough that his wife, Mary, told him "Go get yourself a dog."

He did, a Corgi named Annie.  She rescued my dad, and he's been smiling ever since.

Happy Annie

Happy Bob Walsh

 I'm wondering, have you lost a dog, then said "That's it, I'm done," only to change your mind later?