A Boy and His Dog

Shelby is the most amazing pup ever in the history of the world. She was rescued, as a pup, from a cemetary on the coldest day in February, with her litter mates. Taken to a beautiful farm/puppy sanctuary in Southern Ohio. We came along a few weeks later and it was love at first sight. For her, anyway. Or should I say, love at first nibble. Jack had a gummi bear stuck to his bum and ALL the doggies fell in love with him. But only Shelby stayed after the gummi bear was gone. She followed that little boy all over everywhere and he thought she was the best thing since , well, gummi bears. She was a scruffy gangly thing, and I had gone there with a chocolate lab puppy in mind. But Shelby is no dummy -- once she had Jack enthralled, she zeroed in on the true softie. She climbed into Mike's lap and fell asleep. Try as I might to get Mike interested in the rolly polly little chocolate lab, he'd just shrug his shoulders and say, I can't move, she's asleep. And so home she came with us. We couldn't decide on a name, so we enlisted our nieces. They came up with Shelby, and it stuck. Sounded a bit southern, which we liked. And I've always liked the writer/historian Shelby Foote, and Shelby had the biggest feet around. Felt like we would NEVER get her potty trained. I cursed the day we met many a time, as she just couldn't get it out of her head that the appropriate place to poo was the basement. Time passed and we got over that hurdle. We took her to visit my mom on the "farm" and she loved it -- but came in limping. We man-handled the poor thing trying to find a break, or a cut, or a bite. She never made a sound, would only sometimes wince and pull slightly away. This is where her true nature came through. Turns out she had dislocated her hip! And all that time we were moving her leg around trying to find the issue -- must have hurt like anything. We found a great vet and a great charity that helped us put her back together and she embarked on life again. She's had a lucky life, and we feel really lucky to have her. She's one in a million. She and Jack are growing up together (she's part lab, so her growing up may take longer than his!) and they are the best playmates ever. She's his forver sidekick -- Army dog, Batdog, Spiderdog. He insists on her being in his room when he goes to sleep. He pets her, washes her, sprays her with water, enlists her in any and every scheme and she always goes along willingly -- though sometimes I'll catch her looking at me and rolling her eyes.


Forgive my ode to my dog -- but those of you who are dog people will know what I mean -- there's just something about a dog. And there's something even better about a boy and his dog.