Good Dog

A final story from the archives:

When my son was in second grade we decided to get a dog. Jake was an only child and we wanted to get him a dog to play with as well as give him some responsibility in caring for the dog. We found a Welsh Corgi at the Humane Society which seemed perfect, small enough for me but big enough to satisfy my husband and son. My sister had a dog named Fraiser so we decided to name our dog Niles. While many dogs from the pound are very nice dogs and make great pets, from the moment we brought him home it was clear that this dog wasn’t one of them. He was constantly running away if not tightly tied up outside. He paced the house all day long with his nails clicking on the hardwood floors. He went to the bathroom in our room whenever he got the chance. And worst of all he would nip at Jake biting him when he would try to play too rough with him. One night at dinner Jake prayed this prayer, “Dear God, please make Niles quit biting. But if he doesn’t stop biting, please let all his teeth fall out. Amen.” John and I couldn’t stop laughing when he was done. It was such a sincere prayer by a boy who loved his dog but knew he needed to stop biting. Ultimately the dog didn’t stop biting and we had to have him put to sleep but we have at least one good memory from him.