National Pet Week is May 6-12, a little over a week away. Mark your calendar and celebrate!
“I hate being stuck inside this gate all day, every day. A dog’s gotta do what a dog’s gotta do. I want to find myself a new master. Let me figure out how to break out. Success! Aaaaaaaaah, the air. So much sniffing to do. So many fire hydrants to….. I’m going to run around the neighborhood and see what’s up. Wow! Look at all the mud puddles. (Roll, roll, roll, get filthy and stinky.) This is the life every dog deserves. Wait, who’s that? That lady in her front yard pulling weeds. I’m gonna go check her out. Maybe I can win her heart. (I show her my sad-eyes trick. She approaches me.) Bingo!”
Bongo
July 2, 2007
I heard a clinking sound, turned around, and saw this adorable, shy dog, obviously lost. I coaxed him toward me and noticed he had tags on his collar, Bongo. One tag had Bongo’s address. I walked him home, about three blocks away. Bongo walked in heel-mode the entire way, leashless. My heart is beginning to melt. I rang the doorbell. No one answered. A neighbor was outside and I asked, “Do you know who lives here?” She answered “yes.” I asked, “Can you call and see if anyone’s home?” She did. No answer. I compared the phone number on Bongo’s tag to the number the neighbor had called. Not the same. I sat in Bongo’s grass a minute pondering what to do next. Bongo cuddled beside me and patiently waited while I pondered. My heart is melting some more. The trash guys drove by and I waved them down, “Do any of you have a cell phone I can borrow for a minute?” The driver handed me his and I called the number on Bongo’s tag. It was a pet rescue organization and the woman on the other end said she would call Bongo’s owner. I told her I would walk Bongo back to my home and gave her my phone number for the (soon to be former) owner to call me. I decided to see how smart he was. “Stop.” “Sit.” “Stay.” “Down.” Bongo did every command perfectly. My heart is going pitter-patter, pitter-patter. Bongo’s master called me and expressed enormous apologies for “her” dog getting loose. 
I nonchalantly said, “He’s so sweet, I might keep him.” Her next words sent my heart almost into cardiac arrest: “If you want him, you can have him.” She explained to me that she adopted Bongo from the pet rescue organization a year before, and she and her husband recently divorced, and she kept this furry four-legged gem. But her work demanded a lot of travel and long hours. She had been looking for a new owner for Bongo but it had to be just the right person. Grabbing some kleenex to wipe away these tears of joy!
About a year later, I actually bothered to look at the original adoption papers that the previous owner had given me when Bongo became mine. Deciphering the cursive handwriting of the agency person whose signature was on the form, I realized it read Bonzo, not Bongo! Oh well, as Shakespeare wrote in Romeo & Juliet, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
Pets:
- Teach us how to Love
- Show us the true meaning of Compassion
- Make us Kids Again
- Support us through the Rough Patches of Life
- Help us Get Along Better
Get Along Better provides you relationship “tips” with a twist of humor. Want more? 4,000+ years’ worth of advice from“real-life experts” are documented in Everlasting Matrimony: Pearls Of Wisdom From Couples Married 50 Years Or More, a coffee-table book by Sheryl Kurland. Makes an excellent gift for weddings, anniversaries, engagements…or just because!
Get Along Better 