Dexter.

Wednesday night I was having unpleasant spasms in my buttocks. Possibly another pregnancy symptom I didn’t know about. We didn’t go to the gym like we normally do for this reason. Instead, I was attempting to remove the nasty virus that had locked down my laptop, Rocky was staring out the window, and Glenn was relaxing on the couch unwinding from work. Rocky barks at something out the window. Not unusual, I don’t even look. Glenn looks up, asks me, where is Lexi? She was sitting right next to me. He suddenly jumps up because he had just seen a small, soaking wet, Lexi-ish type dog sitting on our back patio. The dog had run off to the neighbors back porch, where two neighbor kids had also spotted him, and he was huddled back in a corner, completely terrified, freezing, drenched, dirty, and the saddest little puppy you ever did see. Glenn picks him up and starts to warm him up in a towel and we attempt to feed him and give him some water. He is so tiny but uninterested in eating. He later vomits twice so I think he was just so nervous. The dog has a collar, but no tags. It’s after 7:00 and the front office of our complex is closed so we know he will be spending the night. We bring him inside and Glenn holds puppy no name for a while until we introduce him to Rocky and Lexi. Puppy no name is filthy so Glenn gives all three dogs a bath at once. We all start to become friends and settle in for a family movie night. By this point we had started calling puppy no name Dexter, because seriously a dog needs a real name. Dex was not the best at calming down for a movie. By this point we discovered Dex wasn’t neutered and all he wanted was some sweet lovin from Rocky. Glenn had to restrain Dex in his arms to get him to leave poor Rocky alone. When it came time for bed, Lexi hid under our bed, Rocky attempted to hide under a pile of three blankets, but Dex knew he was there, and we finally had to put Dex in a crate for the night.  

Morning comes. Glenn is able to feed Dex a string cheese, so at least he wouldn’t be starving anymore. I go up to the front office and report our found dog, hoping he belongs to someone in our complex. Of course it wasn’t that easy. He didn’t belong to anyone in the complex across the street either. Dexter where did you come from?! Someone gave you that tag-less collar, horribly home-done haircut, and must be missing you. Dexter spends the day with us and has started to get comfortable in our home, smushing down the throw pillows to lay on like our dogs, cuddling, getting in some good playtime with our puppies, and only occasionally trying to torment Rocky. Progress, but we definitely can’t keep him. Fate intervened. Glenn had talked to our neighbor the night before and asked if he recognized Dex. No, but his poodle Cosmo had just died after ten years of owning him. He said he wasn’t planning on a new dog so soon, but maybe this was fate, and he was willing to take Dex if we couldn’t find the owners. So that night Dex goes to live with John in his new home.  

Morning comes again. Glenn kisses a still in bed me goodbye, and who is he holding in his arms, Dexter! John was worried about leaving him home alone already and asked if he could stay with me and our dogs for the day. Right now I am typing on the couch and have three puppies curled up to me on the couch. I’m feeling the love. I’m grateful for my butt spasms. I think about how we wouldn’t have normally been home, and who knows what would have happened to this sweet little puppy. It breaks my heart to think how long he could have been wandering alone outside. I’m grateful to John for wanting Dexter. I’m sure his Cosmo is enjoying puppy Heaven. Lesson learned: We will be purchasing tags for our puppies currently tag-less collars this weekend. Also, Glenn and I can’t resist rescuing a stray puppy. This is not the first time.

Becoming friends.

Dexter.