More About Sooty

Sooty

She came to us out of the blue. It was weird because I had just mentioned to my husband that I was going through dog withdrawal and maybe we should get a dog. He went into a lengthy dialog about all the reasons not to get a dog... the kids were grown and we might want to travel and after all, they’re a lot of work, and messy and noisy. Well, you get the idea and I relented and said I guessed he was right.

After dinner that same evening, Bob asked me if I felt like going for a walk and I did. We walked and talked our way down our little country dead end road and found Sooty on the way back home. Bob is the one who spotted this little puppy under a bush on the far side of a drainage ditch. “There’s a puppy over there.” He said. At first I though he was just teasing me. When I looked where he was pointing, there she was sitting up trying to wag her tail. I called her but she seemed unable to walk. “Go get her”, was my response. And he did, leaping over the spring swollen creek that flowed through the ditch to collect her. He handed her to me, this little starved and injured puppy and as I carried her home, she wrapped her paws around my neck and smothered me with puppy kisses.

The first thing I did was feed her. Every bone in her body stuck out like she was starved. She wasn’t very old so I fed her oatmeal mixed with warm milk to make a thin gruel. While she ate, I looked her over, beautiful face, floppy ears, her short hair was black except for the white patch on her chest. As I called the local dog catcher and veterinarians, I was secretly hoping that I wouldn’t find the owner. I wanted her. No one had reported a missing puppy, but they took my name and address just in case. I kept my fingers crossed.

After dinner, she had a quick bath in the kitchen sink. A gentle rub with a towel and she was dry. The discarded towel was immediately claimed as her own. She curled up on it and went to sleep. Later, I realized that wherever I put the towel, she would stay.

“This is the most brilliant dog I’ve ever seen”, I said to Bob. He rolled his eyes. I think he knew right then we were keeping her.

We called her Sooty.

Sooty quickly became an important part of our family and proved to be a great house dog. She really was brilliant, quickly learning tricks and verbal commands. I’m certain she understood everything we said to her. Sooty was friendly, playful and loyal. She walked with us, swam with us and generally inserted her personality into every part of our lives. We called her a laprador retriever. Everybody loved her.

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