Cola Boy

The day Cola showed up in my life was no different from any other day. I woke up around 4 am to get ready for the opening shift at work. I had to leave the house by 4:30 am to get to work on time. The day went uneventfully until my shift was just about to end at 2 pm. I notice a lady talking to her friend in one of the booths in the café/convenience store I worked in. She looked like she had just lost her best friend.

I was cleaning up the tables, stocking the condiments and getting ready for the end of my shift. I wasn’t trying to eves drop but sometimes it’s hard not to hear when you’re cleaning up close by. Anyway, I heard something about a dog and, since I’ve always had a soft spot for animals, I approached her after her friend left.

“Hi," I said, "I don’t mean to be nosey but I over-heard that you have to put your dog down and, if you don’t mind, I was just wondering why.” She ordered a glass of wine, which I served her, and she took a sip. She said, “My dog is schedule to be put down in an hour and I’m having a hard time.”

So, I asked her a few questions which got her talking. I had thought that maybe her dog was a sickly elderly dog at first but as the conversation continued, I came to realize that there was nothing physically wrong with her dog. The next thing I know I’m telling her, “Don’t put your dog down, I’ll take him. I’m off work in 10 minutes.”

My offer to take her dog home with me instead of her having to have the veterinarian put him down seemed to take her by surprise. Honestly, it kind of took me by surprise too. I have a habit of blurting out my first thought at times. My daughter says I have no filter and my mother says I don’t think before I speak. I think they both mean the same thing.

I’m going to call Cola’s previous owner Nancy from now on. So, Nancy says to me, “You don’t even know what kind of dog he is or how big he is.” I told her, “It doesn’t matter, this is just what I do. What kind of dog is Cola?” So, Nancy proceeded to tell me that Cola was a Great Pyrenees cross and that he was three years old. The reason she had schedule him for euthanasia was because he began to wonder the countryside looking for their older dog who had been hit by a car. She informed me that Cola would go missing for two or three weeks at a time. And that she just could not keep him home.

You see, Nancy lived on a farm and their first dog was getting older and less active so Nancy and her husband, we’ll call him Jack, decided to get a puppy and that puppy was Cola. Their aging dog, Frank, would train Cola to take his place. Frank would do his rounds, checking the livestock and making sure no predators were near by and little Cola would follow Frank everywhere. You could imagine that they would have become quite bonded over the next three years. So, when Frank died Cola began to look for him everywhere he could think.

It was a sad story, but I didn’t understand why they would opt to have Cola euthanized instead of trying to rehome him. I didn’t ask, I was just glad I was in the right place at the right time for Cola’s sake. We made plans to drive out to her place as soon as I got off work. I told her I had to stop and get gas before we left town and she said she’d meet me at the gas station. As I was putting $20 worth of gas in my Jeep Nancy pulled up, got out of her vehicle and told me to make sure to fill it up because she was going to pay for my gas in appreciation of me taking Cola home with me.

After gassing up I followed her out to the farm, parked and got out of my vehicle to see what I had gotten myself into. Nancy took me over to the garage, opened the door and introduced me to Cola. My first thought was, “Oh crap, he’s really big! Mark’s going to kill me!” But I wasn’t going back on my word just because he was big. So, Nancy tearfully said her goodbyes as we loaded Cola into the Jeep. I reassured her that Cola would have a long, happy life and we drove away.

Once we got home, I introduced Cola to my dogs, Chance, Shadow and Sawshaw. They all got along just fine which made me very happy. Mark still didn’t know about Cola, so I texted him letting him know there was a surprise in the back yard. He was still at work so I figured he’d have lots of time to digest the fact that I had brought another dog home. When he got home he told me, “That’s the dog I’ve been telling you about that’s been lying in the middle of the highway that I’ve had to move off the highway only to watch him go right back to where I just moved him from as I was driving away.” So I told him, “Next time you come across a dog in the middle of the highway, just bring him home. He’s going to end up here eventually anyway.”

I had not planned on keeping Cola because I had three other dogs at home already. But I would definitely make sure he went to someone who was well matched for him. And I did find someone who was very interested in having him in her life. It turned out to be my boss, Debbie. She lived on an acreage and always wanted a big dog. So we agreed to give him a trial period at her place.

The day I brought him over to her place, he knew something was up. I visited with her for a little while and then handed him over to her and got into the Jeep. I didn’t even get the Jeep started when she informed me that Cola had crawled underneath it. I couldn’t believe it. We had a hell of a time trying to get him to come out from under it. We tried bribing him with meat from her fridge, we tried pulling him out from under the Jeep and then we just kept sweet talking to him until he finally did crawl out from under the Jeep. It took a little while to coax him out from underneath it. But he finally crawled out. As Debbie held onto his collar I drove away. I made the mistake of looking in the rear view mirror as I was leaving. I felt k bad driving away and leaving him behind. I thought to myself as I was leaving, "This isn't going to last."

As I expected, Cola's stay at Debbie's house was short lived. My boss and her husband had recently installed an invisible fence and had put the collar on Cola after I left. They took him around the perimeter of his range, tried to feed him and then just let him realize on his own that this was his new home. Cola did not agree.

Even an invisible fence could not keep Cola on the property. They reported to me that they watched him break through the invisible fence’s barrier. They said he twitched a couple times going through it but kept on running. This happened a couple more times and we all realized that he had no intention of living there. At this point, Debbie says, "I think he's decided to be your dog. I don't think he'll let anyone else take him." So I made arrangements to go pick him up and bring him back home with me.

When Cola and I got home he walked right in like he owned the place. He had a quiet confidence about him and a face that was so expressive one couldn’t help but fall in love with him. As the weeks passed he just kept getting sweeter, more playful and such a joy to be around. He has this adorable head tilt that he does that just makes me melt. Not to mention, his beautiful big light brown, almost golden eyes that are so full of love and joy.

He had won his way into our hearts before we even realized it ourselves. It didn’t take long before I wasn’t really motivated to find a new home for Cola. This dog had a way of making us laugh every day. The first time I saw Cola’s head tilt I was getting some Milk Bone cookies for him. As soon as he heard me open the box he walked into the kitchen, sat down and cocked his ears almost half erect while giving me the head tilt. It was the cutest thing I had ever seen. This great big dog reverting into a puppy every time the cookies came out was adorable. And every time he would give his signature head tilt with those half cocked ears. I think Cola knew from the start that he was supposed to be with us and was trying to do everything he could to help us see it. It just took us a little longer to figure it out.

My oldest dog, Chance, was experiencing failing health. I didn’t know how long much longer he had before the inevitable would rear its ugly head. I decided it was time to tell Mark what I wanted to do. “Hey Mark,” I said, “we both know Chance isn’t going to last much longer and I thought Cola would be a nice addition to take his place. He’s always making us laugh, he is calm and quiet, he’s just a big cuddle buddy and a big puffy clown. Plus, Shadow and Sawshaw love him.”

I didn’t really have to say all that because Mark was just waiting for me to tell him I was keeping Cola. He knew I wasn’t looking for a new home for Cola ever since I brought him home from Debbie's. Mark would occasionally ask if I’d found someone for him yet and I would just off-handedly say, “Not yet,” and leave it at that.

I came home from work one day to find Chance just lying on the floor, unable to pick himself up. I tried to coax him into standing with left-over meat from the fridge but all he could manage was a difficult crawl. It was heart-breaking to see. I won’t go into all the details here because it could be a story for another day. But, as you can probably figure out, it came time for Chance to say good-bye. I was heart-broken to say the least.

We brought Chance home to bury him in our back yard. Our veterinarian wrapped him nicely in a blanket for us. Before we buried Chance, I allowed all the dogs to sniff his blanket wrapped body and say good-bye their way. I don’t think Cola got to do this when his buddy died so, I wanted to make sure that the dogs got some closure as well as us.

Life moved on from there and Cola remains with us to this day. I can’t imagine life without him now, he has become such a big part of our family. Not only did he help me with my grieving process, Cola also became a therapy dog for the local hospital’s Extended Care Unit. He loved visiting the seniors and getting all the attention and they loved him right back.

Once I started my training and boarding business, Cola quickly became my right hand man. I had a client with a rescue dog that was extremely fearful. During one of our behavior-modification sessions I decided to bring Cola with me to see if his calm, non-threatening energy would help this poor dog. Cola’s presence eventually helped this dog calm down. She started following him around and became calmer as he continued to walk around her yard ignoring her. Finally, she was able to play with Cola and experience just being a dog. Cola taught her this, I just talked to my client and watched Cola do his thing. We were both in awe of what was unfolding before our eyes. I could not have been prouder of any dog that day. That day Cola and I forged an unbreakable bond. That day Cola became my right-hand man. I love you to the moon and back Cola Boy.

I shiver to think about what would have been had the powers that be not aligned the stars to affect the events that occurred that very eventful day, when Cola Boy came into our lives. For one, this story would never have been written, I would have never had the privilege of learning the true meaning of balance had Cola not been such an outstanding example and teacher of it.

It would take a book to write about all the things I have learned about dogs and myself since Cola came into my life. It is now seven years later, and my Cola Boy is still going strong. He is slowing down a little now but don’t we all as we age.

If you are thinking about adopting a dog, make it a rescue dog. Save a dog from euthanasia and you will be rewarded every day of your life. I would not have had the past seven years of psychological, spiritual, and educational growth nor would I have had the privilege of experiencing Cola’s unconditional love had I not stepped up with an open mind and heart and rescued a dog I knew nothing about from a death sentence for the simple crime of leaving the farm too many times. There are rescue organization and shelters all over the country with a multitude of dogs of all kinds waiting for their own forever home. Let it be your home.

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to stop and read this story. I hope everyone enjoys it and that I have convinced at least a few of you to adopt a rescue dog. Be sure to check out Vocal Media for my other stories.