My name is Austin. I have been a lifelong dog advocate. The first dog that I can remember my family owning was an English Springer Spaniel named Max. His full name was Austin's Max A Million, because he was my dog named Max and he cost my parents a million dollars (or so the joke goes). He was a good dog and my family has some great stories surrounding him. One of those stories included my brother wandering off and the dog following him. A police officer found my brother but the dog wouldn't let the officer come near him. So the officer took the dog and my brother followed him. It was a tragic day when I went out to feed him one morning and found him a victim to a wild dog fight. Our next dog was a Basset Hound named Chubby. She was a good dog although very stubborn. After Chubby, came Gantry. He was a Yellow Lab and was a former Seeing Eye dog. Around this time, my parents were able to acquire a Greyhound, named Babe. After moving back into town we realized that Babe didn't have enough room to run, so we ended up giving her to a breeder.
Our next dog was a Chocolate Lab/German Shorthair mix. His name was Bear, and we got him free from a farmer. He was dog among dogs. He was incredibly smart and intuitive. The first day we got him, we ended up going hunting for pheasants. We ended up leaving him in the back of the pickup. He barked most of the time we were hunting. When we got back he was all barked out. From that day on, he never barked (except the one bark to notify us that someone was at the door). He also picked up tricks incredibly fast. I taught him to shake with the right paw, give five with the left paw, sit, stay, play dead when I shot him with "finger gun", and even to shake off the water off his coat outside before coming in. It was a sad day for my family when we had to make the decision to put him down due to cancer growths.
My last dog was a Basset Hound named Yagi. He was given to me by my uncle when he found out his wife was allergic to him. He was a happy dog who thought the world lived to revolve around him. I had an old Dodge pickup with a sliding rear window. He used to ride with his head out of that window looking at the people behind us. It was great to see their reaction in the mirror. Unfortunately, I had to give him up when I moved to Minnesota. I had taken a position at the corporate offices of Gander Mountain and needed to move. I needed to find an apartment that could house a Basset Hound. Regrettably, the amount of pay that Gander Mountain was willing to pay me wasn't enough for me to afford an apartment that allowed dogs. He is now living on a farm and keeping a mentally handicapped child happy.
Within the last year, I married a wonderful woman. Kathryn had a dog growing up and classifies herself as a "dog-person". Like me, her budget limited her on what kind of pet she could have. She had two cats: a Siamese named Stewart, and a Calico named Raya. Stewart acts like a dog always needing attention and willing to sit in your lap to be petted. Kathryn calls him a slut for affection. Everybody we know loves to pet him and enjoys his company. Raya on the other hand… She definitely is a cat and willing to love you on her terms. We moved into an apartment complex that allows cats and dogs and we see dogs on a daily basis.
A week ago yesterday, Kathryn and I were heading to Sam's Club to pick up some groceries. On the way there, she asked if wanted to go to the doggie zoo (aka The Humane Society). We had gone there in the past and managed to get our "fix" on dogs. However, that day was a little different. On previous occasions there were only older dogs. That day they had Lab/English Setter mix puppies. They were only a few weeks old and my wife fell in love with one of them. She even went as far as to upload the dog's picture off of the Humane Society's website to her Facebook page. Yet when our checkbook battled our hearts, the checkbook won. We just couldn't justify $300 for the dog, and then all the other expenses that came along with it (collar, leash, food, toys, kennel…). It sucks to be an adult sometimes.
Still heartbroken on Sunday, Kathryn decided to look on craigslist. She found a Yellow Lab/Golden Retriever mix puppy that was just posted twenty minutes ago. The list price was $75 and included food, toys, first round of shots, and leash/collar. She showed me the listing and I yelled, "Do it!" The email was sent and we received a response quickly. We would have to wait for showing. We responded that we were very excited and wanted to be on the list. The response was that a person didn't show up for a showing and that the next person was scheduled to be there at 2:30. If the person didn't show up, we would be next on the list. We prayed. And the prayer was pretty selfish. The prayer was answered. We got an email at 2:30 saying that the person couldn't make it there today. We were up.
We jumped into the car and stopped by the ATM. Kathryn used her iphone and we managed to find the location. The lady lived on the other side of the Twin Cities and it should take about 30-45 minutes to get there. However, with my excitement and aggressive driving habits, we managed to get there pretty quickly. Kathryn had to remind me a couple of times to slow down; if we got a ticket we wouldn't be able to afford the dog.
We managed to find the house and made our way into the backyard. The lady was waiting for us on the back deck, and also the PUPPY! We rushed up to the deck and were greeted by licks and jumps by the puppy. The lady said that the puppy was formerly her son's dog, but had recently lost his job and wouldn't be able to take care of him. She already had a couple of dogs and that she didn't want to take care of a third one. When asked about the price, she said that it didn't seem right to her to charge high prices for a "mutt". After talking to her a couple of moments and playing with the puppy, we realized that this dog was going to be a good fit. And that is how Nash became a part of our family.
