The Pretty Little Daisy

Hello and good day to everybody reading this story.

Today, I am here to nominate a candidate for EmPAWyee of the Month who I believe absolutely, one-hundred percent deserves it. She is a sweet and loving creature who, despite some of her quirks, is the best doggo anybody could ask for.

Her name is Daisy and she is a four-year-old Australian Shepherd who has a multitude of great qualities and attributes that are very beneficial to the company. However, first, I’ll start off with some background about her.

Daisy was born at a farm up north from Sacramento to a litter of six puppies. The couple who owned the farm decided they would sell them for adoption and so, when we decided to get a dog, my mother took my brothers and I up there to look at the litter. We’d gotten our old Aussie from the same people so my mom was familiar with them. When we arrived, the farmer’s wife greeted us and took us to the pen where the puppies were being kept. Immediately, I noticed the little brown, white, and black one looking over at me with her adorable little eyes. When I walked over to the fence, she trotted on over to me and sniffed my finger through the wire. We were let into the pen to see the puppies up close and the one I had already interacted with ran up to me. She was easily the most energetic of the bunch and I didn’t think my mom would be up to adopting her. She was looking more for a calm and relaxed dog and so, she was more focussed on a blue-eyed red merle puppy who was laying by my little brother.

Now of course, being fourteen at the time, my selfish brain naturally wanted the dog that was interested in me so I was set in convincing my mom to adopt her. However, my job was made harder when the little black and brown puppy marched over to one of my brothers, started nibbling on his shoelace, and then pulled it all undone. Unfortunately, due to how interested the rest of the family was in the red merle, I had a feeling that I wasn’t going to get my way. When we left the farm, my mom had decided to come back the next week and had asked the farmer to keep the red merle so we could adopt it when we came back. At that point, I was ready to concede defeat.

We spent the next week trying to come up with a name for our future pet and, after a lot of debate (and quite a few jokes, complimentary of my brothers and I), my littlest brother suggested the name, Daisy, which he said was the name of the dog in the book “Wonder”, which was one of his favorites at the time. My mom really liked the idea and so, that’s what we wound up going with.

The next weekend, I was at my dad’s house when my mom went to pick up our new dog so, when she called me that Saturday, I was certain she was getting ready to show her to me. So, imagine my surprise when I answer the FaceTime call only to see the little black and brown dog laying on our kitchen floor. I was utterly baffled, and of course ecstatic, as I asked my mom what happened. Evidently, the farmer had forgotten about his promise to keep the merle for us and had sold it mere hours before my mom arrived. So, instead, she adopted the black and brown who became Daisy.

Now, recall how I said Daisy was really energetic, something my mom was worried about. Well, turns out her worries were valid. Daisy was an absolute maniac when we first got her. She jumped on everything, chewed everything, and was next to untrainable for everything except going potty outside (thankfully). We tried a lot of methods to get her to behave and they rarely worked. My favorite example was when my stepfather bought some bitter spray to put on the back of the couch to stop Daisy from chewing it. Its taste was supposed to be disgusting to dogs but, apparently for Daisy, it was a treat. Within literal seconds of spraying it on the couch, she licked up every last drop and looked up at my stepdad as if expecting more.

That was her other big problem. She would eat everything she could get her mouth on and, while that’s not unusual for puppies, she was a frickin master of stealth. One moment, my brother had a full burrito on his plate, he looked away for a second, and when he looked back, Daisy had jumped up, grabbed it, and devoured it completely. I’m still to this day unsure of how she didn’t choke. It was honestly impressive. And the funny thing is that, four years later, she hasn’t changed much. The only difference is that we’ve gotten better at outwitting her.

Now, I imagine at this point in the story, you’re thinking to yourself, “why would we accept such a psychopath as our EmPAWyee of the Month? She sounds like an utter nightmare.” Well, you aren’t completely wrong, however, I still think that her good qualities outweigh the bad ones. She’s a very loving dog and, since she thinks she’s the alpha of the house (which might be true at this point), she believes it’s her job to protect us and damn does she do whatever it takes to do so.

Did the mailman just come to the door? Daisy’s there to scare him away. Cats and squirrels minding their own business in the backyard? Not on her watch, they won’t! A neighbor casually out on a walk? How dare he! Daisy will stop the bad man! I’ve invited my best friend over to hang out? Never again!

She’s the most loyal protector a guy could ask for. Because of her, the mailman has never killed us, nor have cats, squirrels, our neighbors, or my best friend. I owe my life to this little girl and I know that she would protect this company as well!

Something else great about Daisy is how much she loves playing. I mean, really, she loves to play. Doesn’t matter what you’re doing. You could be on a Zoom call, doing homework, minding your own business in your room, reading a book, it doesn’t matter. The minute you hear the squeaking of her rubber pig, you know it’s toy time! So you better get off your ass and play or else you’ll be hearing that noise for the next two hours until you want to rip your ears off. Why’s that a good thing? Because...it’s cute, I guess? Yeah, it’s definitely cute.

She’s also perfect for cat lovers as well! Just like a cat, Daisy is the one who decides when, where, and how you can pet her. She might be lying peacefully beside you as you rub her head and then suddenly, she wants you to stop. And she’ll make sure you stop or else you’ll probably get bit. Mind you, she doesn’t bite that hard but it’s definitely enough to make you stop. She especially loves it when you rub her hips. If she wants a hip rub, you better rub those hips, or else she’ll growl at you. She’s basically just a cat that barks.

Now, to conclude this story, I’ll leave you with one last thing. Is Daisy utterly insane? Yes. Is she too smart for our own good? Yes. But would I trade her for anything? No. No, I would not. Because no matter how crazy she is, she’s my crazy. She might have her issues, but no matter what, we all love her and we know she loves us. Daisy would make the best EmPAWyee of the Month and she would certainly give everybody a show.

Thank you for reading.

Good day.