Lucky Duffy

I've been nagging my parents for some time to get a new dog. Regularly, I go through the Internet listing of dogs in the local shelters and e-mail photos of ones I think they might like. Nothing took.

Sunday, I went to my parent's house for dinner and I asked my mom if she would like to see on the computer what's in the shelter. She agreed. After a few minutes, she grabbed her purse and wanted to go to the shelter immediately. A one year old Dalmatian caught her eye.

My mom had never been in a shelter before and as soon as we got to the first cage, tears started flowing down her cheeks. Every single cage kept the tears flowing. When we got to the Cocker cage, she started sobbing so hard she could barely talk. She grew up with Cockers and one in particular looked just like one she had as a kid.

We asked to adopt it, but were told that the poor pooch required major surgery to remove some kind of mass from inside her inner ear. My poor mom was inconsolable. I offered to pay for the medical care if she wanted that dog, but she refused to accept my offer.

One of the volunteers pointed out another Cocker in the cage. She was a senior dog and although my mom wanted a younger dog, she was so cute and sweet that it was decided to take her. She has a cataract in one eye, but nobody's perfect. Her name is now Duffy.

She follows my mom all through the house and lies down on her feet whenever she sits down. She is such a sweet little girl and my mom enjoys brushing her and getting her fur all poofy. The fur on top of her head matches my mom's hair. I think that is the way things should be. It's not a coincidence that my dogs all have fur that matches my hair. Children should look like their mother.

I'm thinking of getting another dog. I'm not sure if I should get another Golden Retriever or some little poofy frou frou dog. I know that it's illegal to have four dogs, but I want another dog anyway. Call me crazy.