Dukey

One day over a year ago now, as I was arriving home from work, I pulled into our driveway, got out of my car and started walking up our front walkway to the front door. Something caught my eye in my peripheral vision. The next door neighbor's A/C unit had a puppy sitting next to it and he was just sitting there staring at me. My son Matt had just recently adopted a puppy that looked exactly like this puppy. I got as close as I could to him to take his picture with my cell phone's camera. I called my son to ask where his puppy Caboose aka "Growlithe" was and he was with my son. This was just some stray puppy. He had two collars on his neck. One of the collars was a clear flea collar and the other one was a nylon baby blue collar with no tags. I tried to get near him but he was very scared. He would bark ferociously if I got too close. I quickly went inside the house to get Kenny's assistance. I grabbed a leash and some dog food from inside the house. This puppy was about 25 lbs or so. He appeared to be neutered. After many attempts to catch him, we were finally successful. We put a leash on him and walked him around our neighborhood a few times expecting to find people looking for him. No one was looking for him. My heart was breaking for him. I don't know how long he was outside alone. Did someone just "dump" him off in our neighborhood? When we returned from our walk, I put him in my car and took him to the local animal hospital to see if he was microchipped. He wasn't. I brought him back home but it was that ride back home where something very strange happened, I fell in love with this puppy. He was laying on the passenger seat with his head laying on the center console staring at me with the saddest and most precious puppy face. My heart actually hurt. I already have two Boston "Terrorists", I mean terriers. They hate other dogs. We can't even take them to the dog park because they fight with all the other dogs. I couldn't keep this puppy. I called Animal Control and after spending many hours with him sitting on my lap out in my front yard, a police car finally came to pick him up to bring him to the local shelter. I cried my eyes out. Watching this poor puppy being put in the back seat of a police cruiser was heartbreaking.

The next day at work I showed some of my co-workers a picture of him in hopes that maybe someone would want to adopt him. They teased me and named him "Junkyard Dog". The Animal Shelter posted a picture of him on the internet so the rightful owners could retrieve him. Day after day for that entire week, I would check on the internet to see if his owners came to pick him up. They never did. I ended up receiving a call at work from the shelter after his "allotted" time there had ended. Being that I was the one who found him, they gave me the choice to come and adopt him or he would be taken to the county Humane Society. The woman was honest with me and said that dogs like this one are a "dime a dozen" and she was pretty sure he would end up being put down. I cried at work.

I called Kenny to explain the dire situation. He could hear the torment in my voice and agreed to "foster" him until we found a home for him. I left work, went home, picked up Kenny and we were off to pick up the "Junkyard Dog". I didn't allow myself time to think it through too much because I knew that this was a crazy thing to do. Not just because it would now mean having three dogs but the other two are so aggressive towards other dogs. When we went to the Animal Shelter to pick him up, he was so excited to see us again that as we walked him out he peed all over the place. We signed some paperwork and took him directly to our local vet for an exam and some puppy shots. Then we were on our way home with the "Junkyard Dog".

It was a nightmare at first. Actually, it still is sometimes. BUT, the two Boston's now "tolerate" him. I originally named him Marmaduke and over time it was shortened to Duke or Dukey. I literally had to get on my knees and cry out to God to help us make this work. It wasn't easy and still isn't at times. Duke was a biter and would leave us with bruises from nipping at us so much. He barks non-stop when people come over and he has all kinds of "issues" but who doesn't, right? Over time, he has improved. He makes us laugh and smile every day. He is an absolute love bug. He is now about 80 lbs and he thinks he's a lap dog. Saving his life has been very rewarding. He has become part of our family. I wouldn't want to go a day without our junkyard dog, Dukey! He's a gift from God.

James 1:17
New King James Version (NKJV)
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.