Growing up I was not much of an animal person.  As a kid I never had any pets because my parents were allergic, or so they claimed.  Visiting friends’ houses I found their dogs to be smelly, noisy, and downright annoying.  Jumped on, drooled upon, and once even bitten, I was no fan of dogs.  Never would I have imagined that as an adult I would share extraordinary bonds with four very special dogs.

My husband had dogs as a child and began bringing up the idea of getting one shortly after we moved into our first place together.  Whenever the subject came up I listened, but did not say much because I was not crazy about the concept of getting a dog.

In March, 1993 Bob and I were at a shopping mall and he wanted to visit the pet shop (Before you express outrage, remember this was almost twenty years ago before most people had heard of puppy mills).   There were so many cute puppies frolicking in their cages, but Bob knew which one he wanted to see, a Miniature Pinscher.

There was a red female Min Pin on display and we were permitted to take her into one of the small playrooms.  The puppy was playful and energetic, and took great delight in providing us with an entertaining show.  I had to admit that she was a sweet, adorable puppy.

Bob did not ask me about buying the puppy while we were in the store, but on the drive home he said that she would be the perfect dog because she would remain small and being short-haired, would not shed.  He did not talk about the puppy anymore that day and I figured that he was giving me some time to warm up to the idea.

The next day I had a late afternoon college class and returned home around 7.  As I walked in our front door, a tiny fawn like creature ran across the room.  At first, it didn’t click.  I was confused.  What had I just seen? Bob was in the room on the telephone and quickly ended his call.  I walked further into the room and realized that the puppy from the pet shop was standing in our living room.  The pieces fell into place.  We have a puppy!

Our new puppy!