My husband and I weren't looking for a dog. We already had a 5-year-old, 40-pound terrier mix who we loved. She was so smart and wanted nothing more than to make us happy, which made training a breeze. At the time, we were getting ready to move to a new home. While taking a break from our packing chores, friends of ours walked into the backyard with their sweet little Lhasa Apso, Stanley. We set him loose with our girl and they immediately started running and wrestling. Our last dog was a Lhasa and we love the breed. Knowing this, our friends announce, "We're on our way to the pound with him. You want him?" How could we say, "Keep walking"? They agreed to have him "fixed" and within a week, we had a second dog. Well, our new little buddy hadn't learned much in his two years of life. He was housebroken, good with food and sweet as could be but, no sit, stay, blah, blah. Didn't play with toys, but boy could he run. We spent weeks trying to 'Stanley-proof' the yard but he just squeezed through or dug under whatever we came up with. One day while at the beach, his leash slipped from my hand and he took off. A car stopped to let us know there was a little tan dog with a long leash running 3 miles away. That would be Stanley. When the little man had enough, he turned around and ran back 2-1/2 miles to us. He got loose on New Year's eve in a strange town and after a 5 hour search we found him at a party living it up with two new dog friends. There wasn't a day that our little goofball didn't make us laugh. He finally figured out toys and went nowhere without his stuffed duck. It took old age to slow him down, and he was so proud of himself when we let him off leash (knowing we could catch him). Always one for an adventure, we bought a dog stroller, Stanley's chariot, so he didn't miss a thing. Stanley left us at 17 years of age. It's been several years now and we have new furry friend but we think of the little man every day and laugh. God sends us what we need, even if we don't know it at the time. Stanley showed us that a good heart can overcome a bad start.

Melodie
BABYLON, NY