Surprise! You're Now a Dog Mom!

It was summer 2006. I was twenty and on break from college. Getting a dog was the furthest thing from my mind as I hung out with a couple of friends on a Saturday evening. In fact, the only big thing on my mind was a Disney World internship offer I was considering for the next summer.

At the time, I was really into a popular Japanese comic book about vampires where the main character could change his form into that of an eight eyed Hell Hound. This is why, when I received a call from my best friend that night and she jokingly exclaimed "Someone is selling Hell Hounds," I drove my friends out to the location she specified.

I just wanted to look, I insisted. I loved dogs, but I wasn't going to bring a puppy home. I was still living with my parents and I never had a dog growing up. They surely wouldn't let me have one as long as I was under their roof.

Alisa, my best friend, was working a summer job at a Hawaiian ice shack in the parking lot of the town a half hour away. Apparently, a woman drove to a spot in the same parking lot and plopped a bunch of Labrador/Heeler puppies in the grass on a median. A 'puppies for sale' sign was taped to the side of her truck.

Alisa knew I'd always wanted a dog. Her intentions for getting me out there and mine were completely different. She called me so I would finally buy myself a dog. I went because I wanted to see her and pet some puppies.

When I arrived at the lot, I parked by the Hawaiian ice shack. My three friends and I walked over to see the pups, and there he was, the dog I would eventually name Cooper, sitting in the Puppy Lady's lap. The lady took one look at me and held up the adorable male lab mix.

"You must be Jeanette," the woman said to me with a smile. Alisa must have mentioned that I was coming. I chucked. "I picked this one out for you."

The woman handed me the little ball of fluff she'd been cuddling. His fur was soft and all black with a white patch on his chest and a little bit of white under his chin. All of his paws had white on them, almost like little socks.

As soon as I held him I knew I was in trouble. My brain immediately produced the thought "what if this is the one?"

When I finally managed to put him down, I couldn't keep my eyes off of him as he romped in the grass with his siblings and munched on some kibble. He was too cute. It took all of ten minutes for me to realize I wanted that puppy, more than I wanted anything before. My parents went to see a movie shortly after I'd left the house with my friends. I knew if I didn't call them right away I'd run the risk of not being able to contact them about the pup.

Thankfully my father answered his phone. The question tumbled out of my mouth without skipping a beat and then there was a short pause of silence before my father flat out said no. I heard him turn to ask my mother and her reply was clear. She didn't care and wanted nothing to do with it. That was basically two negative answers. With a sigh, I hung up and looked back to the pups, letting my friends know what my parents had said.

For three hours I held, pet, and watched the puppy I wanted, trying to decide what to do. I wasn't a kid anymore. I figured could make my own decisions. My father didn't even live with us. He worked across the country and commuted home as often as he could. His allergies were not going to get in the way of my dream of owning a dog this time.

That left my mother. She had always been a tough customer and still is. If she really meant what she said, there was a possibility that she'd be fine with a dog in the house. It's not like I was making her take care of it. The dog would be mine and my responsibility.

The woman selling the puppies was telling me all sorts of things in a desperate attempt to get me to buy one. When I mentioned it was just my mom and me, she brought up a good point. A dog would be good protection. I thought back to the internship I wanted to take. My mother would be alone for the four months I'd be gone. The dog could keep her company and I'd feel better knowing there was something there that could protect her.

The Puppy Lady then offered to sell the pup for $50 instead of the $100 she'd been asking. That's what made my decision I told myself, though in the back of my mind I think I knew I was going to get the pup the second I saw him.

Of course I didn't have any cash on me. I bummed fifty bucks off my friends with a promise to pay them back, one of my friends picked up the pup who was now asleep, and back to my car we went. I could hear one of my new pup's siblings howl at the sight of his brother being taken away. That made me feel bad, but not enough to give up my new puppy. As I look back on it, I wish the woman had given me her contact information. I would have loved to keep in touch with the people that adopted the rest of the litter. I often wonder if Cooper remembered his siblings and missed them.

On the drive home after I bought him it occurred to me that I had no place for Cooper to sleep. My boyfriend had a dog and he offered to lend me a kennel for the pup to sleep in until I could get the necessary supplies. That was a life saver. When I got home after dropping off my friends and picking up the kennel, I put the kennel in my room and gently placed Cooper on the pad inside. He slept soundly the entire time.

My parents arrived home from their movie an hour later. They walked in and looked at me like they knew. They immediately asked if I got the dog and sighed when I said yes. But to my surprise, they weren't angry. Instead, my mom asked to see him. It was dark in the kennel and since Cooper's fur was mostly black it was hard to see him and my mom didn't want me to wake him up just so she could look at him. She was a little disappointed in his coloration though.

"You got a black dog?" she asked, though it was less of a question and more of a complaint.

I knew that if we ever got a dog, she'd want it to be small and brown, with a tail, like the dog she had when she was a kid. Cooper was the exact opposite. He was going to end up being a bigger dog with a docked tail and black and white fur. Her response to my affirmation on his looks was an 'alright' before she left my room to go to bed. I slept well that night, happier than I'd been in a long time, and Cooper hardly made a peep until six AM when he had to go potty.

Now listen, I have never been a morning person, but you bet I was out of bed right away and happily carrying him up the stars to take him outside. My parents even came out soon after. We all sat watching our new tiny baby sniff around and get acquainted with his new home. The entire time he was outside that morning I couldn't shake the irrational fear that he would get lost under the deck and never come out again. It was my first day owning a puppy and I was already becoming a panicked and anxious dog mom.

Cooper's presence in our home brought us joy and peace. I felt calm wash over me just petting him. My family had never been as happy as we were after we got Cooper. He changed our lives for the better. His unconditional love, loyalty, and ability to tell when someone was upset and attempt to calm that person were all reasons he was something we never knew we needed. Even my father, the one that didn't want a dog, admitted he wouldn't know what to do without Cooper in our lives.

While it might have been a better choice to do research before adopting a dog, I do not regret buying Cooper on a whim and I will forever be extremely grateful that my best friend Alisa was thinking of me that summer evening.

This article is dedicated to the two greatest friends I could have ever asked for, the late Alisa Green and Cooper Dog. I love you and miss you both.