Just A Little Puppy Love

It’s a cold March evening in Ohio and I’m sitting in my favorite old wingback writing chair, thinking about how people find the pets that will inhabit their lives.  We had a visit this afternoon, a sweet couple from Columbus and their little girl Berkley had come to pick up a puppy.  Her mom said that Berkley had been pleading for a puppy for years and they’d promised she could have one for her 8th birthday.  I love visits like this one.  Berkley was starry-eyed and quietly over the moon about finally getting to have a puppy of her own.

I was almost certain that they would be going home with beautiful Viola of the creamy white coat and soft dark eyes.  The perfect sort of little girl puppy for a little girl to love and care for.

Twizzler and Viola were bouncing up and down with puppy excitement as the family came into the kitchen and began oohing and awing as they gazed into the puppy playpen, It took just a few minutes, and I could see that yes, Viola and Berkley were meant for each other. 

I know it’s silly, but I’m sure that Twizzler could tell too and I watched sympathetically he redoubled his efforts to show what an amazing puppy he was, and began an earnest campaign to convince everyone that he was the puppy they should go home with…  I’d been working with the babies teaching everyone to tether and to sit on command, and he went carefully through his small assortment of tricks.

Posing and being a pretty boy.  Sitting neatly with paws carefully placed together, (peering up at me worriedly as if to ask me to plead with them on his behalf).

He did much gazing longingly at both mom & dad, hoping to sway them to his side.

It was no use though, one look at Berkley and Viola (who by this time was attached to Berkley like velcro) and even Twizzler knew this little girl wasn’t going to pick him.

 

My poor little Cavapoo drooped as the happy family went out the door with Viola in their arms.  I can’t say who was beaming more happily, Berkley or Viola, both were obviously smitten with each other and while I knew it was exactly the right home for Viola and not for Twizzler, I couldn’t help feeling badly for my little red-headed puppy who had been equally smitten with puppy love for the exceedingly adorable Berkley.

After I had sent the joyous new puppy owners on their way and helped tuck Viola (now known as “Joy”!) into her crate for her journey home, I went back into the kitchen and found a most woebegone Twizzler still watching the door to see if perhaps they might change their minds and come back for him.

I reached down to cheer him up a bit and as is his habit, he placed his velvet muzzle gently in the palm of my hand, (such an earnest small soul).  I promised him that his family just hadn’t found him yet and that soon, very soon they would arrive or he would fly to meet them and all would again be puppy bliss in his small world.

It’s a story I’ve seen unfold many times over the years, each puppy has just the right home and sometimes it takes a bit, but they always always find their way to that special someone’s heart and it’s always a blessing to be part of each little one’s journey.

Some little puppy people are not sure that’s true but I promise it is : )