Seer
Chapter 24

Jonathan

I can’t sit still in the car as we drive to the animal shelter. Mom and Dad are in the front, still talking to me about how I will have to be responsible for the dog, I’ll have to feed it and take it for walks and clean up after it and whatever. Fine! I am so excited about the idea of having a dog of my own that I’m willing to do anything it needs. This is going to be amazing!

I’ve always wished to have a pet. I mean, sometimes I find lizards and stuff outside, but those don’t last very long and they aren’t that much fun to play with. They always just try to get away from me. But a dog will stay with me, and do whatever I want it to do.

When we finally park and get out of the car, I can’t wait to get inside and see what they have. We have to go by the front desk first and talk to someone, and Mom and Dad look at some paperwork. I’m dying to get back inside, where I know the animals are waiting. I can smell them, which isn’t great but I figure that if I only have one I’ll make sure to keep it clean so it isn’t smelly. I can hear them too, yipping and barking.

Finally, the lady at the front takes us through the door to see the dogs. There are rows of cages, and lots of dogs look up from what they were doing to watch us walk in. Some of them lay their heads back down, but some of them come right up to the door of their cage and stick out their tongues and pant while they watch us.

“Well,” Dad says, “what do you think? Take a look and see if any of them look like they want to come and live with you.”

To be honest, it’s a little overwhelming. All of those big eyes looking at me. The lady says I can come down with her and look closer, so I follow her slowly along the rows of cages. There’s a big tan dog that looks sad, and a little dinky dog that yips at me. There’s a couple of cats too. I keep going, looking at each one, wondering which one is my dog.

Down at the end of the row I notice a little dog, that is a nice dark brown color, very fluffy and cute, watching me with an eager face. It has big yellow-brown eyes, and ears that kind of flop down on the side of its head. It has white paws, and a white patch all the way around its neck. It puts its little white paw up on the bar of the cage and sort of scratches it, like it’s trying to get me to play. It gives a funny little bark.

Mom and Dad and the lady watch while I stop in front of this cage. I bend down to get a closer look, and it pokes its foot out through the cage, closer to me, so I touch the paw. It gives another bark. I sit down on the floor next to it and try to reach in to touch its fur.

“Do you like that one, Jonathan?” Mom says, and I nod, still looking into the cage. Then she asks the lady, “What kind of dog is it?”

The lady says, “This is a male puppy, just about two or three months old. We believe it is a labrador and border collie mix. He weighs about 13 pounds, but he’ll get bigger pretty fast. He’ll probably end up weighing about 50 or 60 pounds. He probably won’t be available for very long - young puppies are very popular and usually get snatched up pretty quickly.”

She crouches down next to me on the floor. “Would you like to hold him?” she asks me.

“Yes, I would!”

She stands back up. “Ok, follow me. We have a room where you can play with him for a little while, and get to know him.” I take my hand back out of the cage, where I was still touching his fur, and stand up. The poor little guy whines when I move away.

We follow her down to another door. She lets us into a room where there are some chairs, and some pet toys, like balls and stuff for them to climb on. “Wait here,” she says, “I’ll bring him right in.”

In just a couple of minutes she’s back, holding the brown puppy in her arms. She comes over to me, strokes his head a couple of times, then puts him down in my lap, where I’m sitting on one of the chairs.

The dog squirms around in my lap. I pick him up and lift him closer to my face, and he reaches up with his little nose and sniffs me. He looks so happy, and pants with his tongue hanging out while he squiggles. I set him back down on my lap, and he starts sniffing me all over and pressing on me with his little white paws.

Mom and Dad both reach over and pet him too, and he tries to lick their hands. It makes them laugh.

I feel his soft ears and pet his cute little face. When my finger gets close to his mouth, he opens it up and sort of munches me softly. The shelter lady hands me a little toy stick and says, “Here, let him chew on this. He’s like a human baby that wants to chew on things.” So I put the stick up to his mouth, and he starts chomping on it, holding it down with his paws. After a while he gets quieter, and just lays on me, trying to snuggle close to my stomach.

I can’t believe how good the puppy feels here in my arms, sitting on me, happy to be with me. He’s so warm, and fluffy, and wiggly, and friendly. I get this happy glowing feeling from holding him. It feels so right.

I look up at Mom and Dad, and I can see that they know it too. This is our dog.

Gabe

I’ve been waiting for Jonathan to get back from the pound to pick out his dog. He said as soon as he gets home I should come over to see it. I’m waiting out in the front yard, bouncing a ball, so that I can see when their car comes driving up.

When I see them pull into their driveway, I run back into the house and yell, “Dad! I’m going over to Jonathan’s!”

Natalie isn’t up in her room like usual. I’m surprised to see her standing right next to the front door, already wearing her shoes. “Can I come too?” she asks.

I’m about to ask her why, but she says, “I just want to see Jonathan’s new puppy. Is that ok?”

“Um, yeah, I guess,” I say.

So we walk down there, and by the time we get to his house they are outside in the backyard. I go around the side to get in through the gate, Natalie tagging along with me.

And there is Jonathan, sitting on the ground with the cutest little brown puppy. The dog is sitting on the grass in front of him, reaching its paw up and tapping his knee, its little tongue hanging out. His parents go back out to the front and start carrying some stuff in from the car.

Jonathan looks up and says, “Check out my puppy!” He has a huge smile on his face.

I head over and sit right down on the ground with him. Natalie follows, but she doesn’t sit yet, she just stands there next to Jonathan, holding her hands together in front of her, staring with huge eyes at the dog.

“That’s so cool!” I tell him. “What’s its name?”

“I don’t know yet,” he says, “I haven’t named him. I have to think of something just right.”

“Can I pet him?” I ask.

“Sure.”

So I reach over and put my hand on his fuzzy brown back, and he squiggles backwards to see what’s touching him. Then he tumbles over to me and starts sniffing my hand and trying to get up on me. OMG this is the cutest little thing ever.

Natalie is still standing there in a trance, and when she sees the dog trying to get up on me she sort of squeaks. “He’s so cute!”

The dog stops what he’s doing on my lap when he hears her, and he pads over to her feet and sits right in front of her, looking up. She drops to her knees, and leans over to pick him up. I can tell that she is totally in love with this dog already. “Ooooohhh!” she says, holding him in her arms like a baby and petting his fuzzy fur. “You’re so cute! You’re such a good puppy!”

I laugh at how much she loves the dog. It’s cute, yeah, but she clearly thinks this is the most wonderful thing she has ever seen. She holds the puppy up higher towards her face, and leans her head down to touch him. Her hair falls over onto him while he squirms around in delight.

“Huh,” Jonathan says. I look over at him, and see that he is watching Natalie and his dog bonding. I’m worried for a second he’ll be annoyed, but he doesn’t seem to be. “Check that out. Their hair is exactly the same color.”

I swing my head back around, and sure enough, you can’t tell where Natalie’s hair ends and the dog’s fur begins. “Ha!” I laugh. “What a funny coincidence.”

Natalie just keeps holding the dog, talking baby talk to him, while he tries to lick her face. Jonathan and I look at each other and laugh. “Hey, come over here,” he tells me, “look at all this stuff we got for him.”

We go over and Jonathan starts showing me the dog supplies. There’s a cushion for him to sleep on, and bowls, and food, and something called puppy pads that I guess are sort of like diapers, to put on the floor in case he pees before he learns he’s supposed to go outside.

“You can help me take care of him, Gabe,” Jonathan offers.

“Sure! I’d love that! Maybe we can teach him tricks and stuff!”

“I want to help too,” Natalie says, still cuddling the puppy. He starts to try to chew on her fingers, and it just makes her giggle.

“Okay,” Jonathan shrugs, “you can help too.” He sees that the dog is chomping her hand, and says, “Here, take this toy for him to chew on. The lady at the shelter told us that he’s like a baby, so he likes to chew on things.” He hands her the little toy, and Natalie holds it up for the dog. He immediately starts gnawing on it.

I’m glad that Jonathan doesn’t seem annoyed about sharing his puppy, especially with my little sister. She doesn’t usually play with us, although the last couple of days she has hung around with us more.

This is going to be fun.

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