"Strangest thing ............ and don't you tell ANYONE!
I was thinking of getting dad a puppy for Christmas."
I was thinking of getting dad a puppy for Christmas."
I'm not sure if she needed convincing at that point or not but I did my dog-loving best to convince her it was a great idea. I didn't have to ask what kind of puppy. See, my dad, big teddy bear of a guy that he is, melts when it comes to puppies, especially black labs. They're HIS thing. For as long I can remember, black labs were his favorite. I will never, ever, ever forget the day he got our first black lab, Kodiak. I vividly remember my brothers and I sitting on the floor around my dad while he had the puppy on his lap. He said his name would be Kodiak. I'm pretty sure I asked a dumb question like, "Why are you naming our dog after film?" Of course, it was Kodiak, as in the type of bear. He was a sweet dog, but left to the responsibility of three kids, he didn't fare as well as he should have. He should have been treated like a KING, but took the quiet brunt of many, many daycare kids. He got a horrible case of cataracts and then had some type of cancer. After we put him down, it was a while before my dad was open to the idea of another lab.
Enter Pebbles. Pebbles came from the po-dunk mountain town of Walden, Colorado. Dad said he wanted the fattest female of the litter. And he got her. I first met Pebbles when I hopped into the passenger side of my dad's truck after a day of junior high school. She was as dark as a moonless night and was sporting a hot pink collar. She became my shadow. My mom stopped doing daycare while I was in junior high, so I was the first one home in the afternoons and the only one home during the day in the summer. Pebs and I were buddies. I taught her a few tricks, but mostly she was just my company. Even when I started driving, she got to tag along. We'd go on our car rides up to check the mail in Bellvue. Me and her. She loved those short car rides. I hated going away to college. It must have crushed her to wonder where I disappeared to for so long at time. She was always right there to greet me when I came home! Pebbies got cataracts and her hips got bad, then her kidneys. Losing Pebbies was tough. Unbearably rough. My dad said never again. He hated to see dogs he loved so much suffer the way old dogs, especially old labs, do.
So when my mom said she was thinking about getting my dad a puppy, I was thrilled. A new puppy never erases the old. No dog can ever replace Kodiak or Pebbles, or our other dogs Buttons and Shelby. But a new dog, at Christmas time, is a new start, a new leaf. Puppies are hilarious, heart-warming, and more understanding and forgiving than any person you'll ever meet. So we started keeping our ears and eyes open for available litters. Then we started looking with a bit more intent. We had no luck. I even called around to local vets offices to see if any of them had been seeing and litters. Nothing. With a week to spare, my mom checked the Denver paper and the Christmas present started to wrap itself.
Way down in southern Colorado, outside of LaJunta, a man with the last name of Crane had 13 puppies ready for the taking. A phone call, an email, and a coincidence made today the day for Mission: Santa's Secret Helpers.
At zero-dark-thirty, Brent woke me up. I grumbled and tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't. It was puppy day! I bid Brinkley Miles a good day and told him Grandma would be by to check on him and hit the highway for Denver. I picked up my partner in crime and headed towards Denver West. We met our awesome Bryn for brunch at Einstein's bagel. She was awesome to switch her schedule to meet us for brunch instead of lunch which was the original plan. After bagels, coffee, and hugs, Heidi and I hit the road again. We along the foothills, by-passing the chaos that is Denver, and reached our not so clandestine meeting spot. It was here, on E. Arapahoe Rd in the shadows of an ugly brown office building where the drop-off happened...an hour later than planned.
The man named Crane wouldn't make a good operative. Heidi and I waited for an hour and half before he arrived. We watched dozens of cars enter the parking lot and drive by. With our eagle eyes we watched. And waited. And laughed. We thought of how funny it would be to have a sign on the car that read "Wanted: Old Man with Puppies." Shortly after that thought, an older man in a red sedan drove slowly past us. He gave us the creeps. And both of us let a sigh of relief that wasn't our guy. Heidi said he looked like a pedophile. I agreed. Then another SUV pulled into the parking lot down a slight hill and diagonal from us. He got out and went around to his side passenger door. The anticipation built and Heidi said, "Oh, he's got something in his, it looks heavy..." As he cleared the rear of his car walking in front of us, he swung the rest of his man purse over his shoulder and headed towards the office building.
With each car that passed we scrutinized it. Was that a dog? Did that guy look old? That doesn't look like a farm truck. We laughed at the thought of a farmer pulling up in a clown car with 13 puppies filing out after him one by one. But finally, FINALLY, a tan suburban pulled up. And before we knew another family hopped out to meet the same puppies we were there to meet. Black and blonde labs crawled all over the grass. The man named Crane handed me the fattest black female of the litter.
She was reserved, half asleep, and gorgeous. Absolutely precious. My dad's heart was going to melt at the thought that this fat little black lab was his. My mom rocks as SANTA. And I was more than willing to play Santa's Secret Helper. I snapped a photo of girl puppy and sent it off to my mom at work. Girl puppy slept in Heidi's lap all the way back to Heidi's house. And then she curled up on a blanket in a laundry blasket all the way back to my house. She's a sweet little thing!! Her puppy smile is fantastic!! As soon as my mom saw her, the plans changed.
I was going to have puppy duty for a day or more. Not any more. Another meet up, this time in the dark. We met a block away from where my dad works and walked into meet him. I carried the camera. Mom carried the box...
My dad was surprised. Probably more surprised than ever before. It was awesome. And he's working on naming Girl Puppy. He's taking suggestions....???
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