All dogs go to heaven....

Right????

This February my mom had to take our dog Tanner to be put down. The muscles in his hind legs were deteriorating. He couldn't walk, run, or play like he use to and was needing help doing basic things like going potty and walking over to his food bowl.

He never was the perfect dog. To be honest, he was pretty socially awkward if you ask me. He was darn near impossible to train, he wouldn't let you touch his feet (which meant we had to drug the guy just to clip his nails!), he had a crazy eye, and I was always a little nervous about letting him around other dogs.

It was spring of 1999. My friend Tanya and I were at one of the million graduation parties, this one at the Lakewood Tennis Club. There was a stray there that had a litter of puppies out by one of the buildings, there were four or five little puppies about 4ish weeks old. Tanya and I decided we'd save a puppy and each take one home. (If you'd seen this stray you would have reconsidered taking on one of these little guys...she wasn't exactly the prettiest dog on the block if ya know what I mean.)

So I picked the cutest one. The fattest one. I later found out that his belly was fat because he had worms. Eew. Not as cute anymore.

I knew my parents wouldn't let me keep a dog that I had brought home "just because".... No, Tanya and I were already trying to figure out the best way to market these pups to our parents. We knew the boring old "but they're puppies and they need a good home" routine wasn't gonna cut it, not in the Davis household at least. We'd have a herd of dogs if that line worked in our house. Somehow my family has a lost/stray dog tracker embedded in our DNA, and based on past "found" canines and failed attempts to keep said canines, I knew better than to try something so simple...so whiny, on my parents. I had to go big or go home.

I justified the fact that I was about to attempt to pull of the biggest lie of all time to my parents by telling myself the entire ride home "it's for a good cause, God will totally forgive me". Tanya and I got our "story" straight on the ride to the house, we were ready...that's our story and we're sticking to it.

I walked in with the flea-ridden mongrel and yelled "Mom! You'll never guess what happened!..."

my brother with Tanner

remember it was 1999 and I liked boxed hair color...a lot.

time for a snack...part 2 is on it's way!