Elvis...the beginning

Cindi

New Member
Joined
May 7, 2004
Messages
22
Likes
0
Points
0
#1
Like everything else in this world, and despite the fact that he is rapidly approaching the end, Elvis had a beginning. When he came along, I didn't really want a dog. It had only been a couple of years since we lost old Sam and I was not ready to let another dog into my heart. But the kids wanted a puppy, and Christmas was coming up, so I called the dog pound to see what was available.

I knew they wouldn't let me take the dog home 'til after the holidays. It is their policy not to let animals go as Christmas gifts. Too many of them were not wanted or appreciated, and ended up right back where they started, so I was prepared to pick one out by myself, and had already figured out how to break it to the kids.

I had a big box that contained a water and food bowl, a few chew toys and other puppy odds and ends, and was going to wrap it and put it under the tree along with a note from Santa, telling the kids that he didn't want to stuff the pup in a box, so he had left him with some people who would take good care of him until we could pick him up.

Then I went looking for a puppy to go with the box. When I got to the pound I was sadly disappointed. One dog they were calling a puppy was as big as I was, and sporting enough hair to stuff a mattress. Not good for Florida heat at all. The other one was a scrawny, shy little pup with eyes like dinner plates, and for the life of me I could not recognize any type of breed in him. But there was something about him that I couldn't ignore. Even way back then, even as a bony, nervous puppy, Elvis talked to me.

I knelt down by the fence. He was still as a statue while I stuck my fingers through the chain link, and gently stroked his back. He acted like the mere touch of my fingers was a gift of the highest order. His craned his neck around and looked me in the eye and he said....'I'm the one you want'.

"I'm not so sure about that." I said softly. Even though he gazed into my eyes confidently, and even though it was probably just wishful thinking on his part, he almost had me convinced.

I wanted something cute and cuddly. This puppy didn't fit the description at all. He was gangly and skinny and funny looking. But since he was a short haired dog, which is what I wanted, and since he had that way of speaking to me right off the bat, I agreed to take him. I went into the office and filled out the paperwork and paid the fee, and then I didn't see him again for almost a week.

The kids opened the box together. Jenny and Jake tried to look surprised and excited over the chew toys. Gee thanks Mom and Dad. Jill was a little older, and quicker on the uptake, so she caught on right away.

"We're getting a puppy!" She exclaimed.

There was a great deal of dancing and jubilation. I was worried what they might think when they saw him. He wasn't like any puppy they had ever seen, or that I had ever seen for that matter. Two days after Christmas we went to collect him. Over the hectic holiday, something about Elvis had been preying on my mind, and it wasn’t until we were on our way to get him that I was finally able to put my finger on it. The kids knew they were getting a puppy, the shelter knew we were coming afte him, but Elvis, he had no idea that he had been rescued. How do you tell a dog, okay, I'm going to take you, but you have to wait a while?

The more I thought about it, the more it hurt me. We had shared a moment that dog and I, and as far as he was concerned, he had clearly come up short of my expectations, as I had left him there. To make matters worse, being that he was spoken for, he wasn't being shown to any other families.

Elvis spent Christmas in a nine by nine cage, on a concrete pad, without even the usual parade of dog seekers coming by on occasion to look him over. From his point of view he was forgotten and unwanted. The heavier this thought got, the heavier my foot got on the gas pedal on the way to the shelter. It's a wonder I didn't get a speeding ticket.

We pulled up and fairly ran into the shelter to let them know we wanted our puppy. They brought him out, tripping all over his own feet. Any worries I had about the kids not accepting him vanished, when they fell to the floor together like one kid with six arms, and began hugging him.

We led him out to the van and he jumped right in and found the tattered old comforter that we had brought along and spread in the floor for him to lay on. You would have thought that he'd died and gone to heaven the way he wallowed in that comforter. I imagine it was the softest thing he'd had to lay on in a long time, and as skinny as he was, something soft to lay on must have been better than food.

We got him home and after the kids had thoroughly worn him out, I introduced him to his dog house, that had since been lined in the bottom with the old comforter. He went in, turned around three times and lay down, gazing at me through the door.

His eyes said...'I told you I was the one you wanted. Yeah you had to go away and think about it for a few days, but you came back for me. I knew you would.'

I didn't say anything, didn't bother to tell him that he was the only choice I had, and now I'm glad I didn't, as next to Sam, he has been the best dog I ever had, and I'm grateful that I never made him think any less of himself than he deserved. :)
 
Joined
Dec 20, 2003
Messages
94,266
Likes
3
Points
36
Location
Where the selas blooms
#2
When Elvis' sojourn with you is done, I am sure Sam will be waiting for him with a heartfelt greeting of "Thanks for taking such good care of our Cindi. You let her smile again."
 

hev

New Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2004
Messages
15
Likes
0
Points
0
Age
47
Location
Lancashire, England
#10
aahh

I am in absolutely floods of tears after reading such a well written story about such a wonderful thing, elvis sounds so lovely and I wish you many many happy years together.
(I have to dry my silly tears before one of the family comes in here and start laughing at me)
 
Joined
Dec 20, 2003
Messages
94,266
Likes
3
Points
36
Location
Where the selas blooms
#11
This is among the best stories that anyone's ever posted and I have never forgotten it, so I decided I would not only bump it, but move it out here where everyone would see it.

I'd encourage all to pull up all of Cindi's stories she posted and read them. :)
 

Members online

Top