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Great dog story

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Optics Jedi Master
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    Posted: June/14/2011 at 14:13
Great Dog Story!
 Read this to the end.

 

They told me the big black Lab's name was Reggie,
as I looked at him lying in his pen..  The shelter was clean, no-kill, and the people really friendly.  I'd only been in the area for six months, but everywhere I went in the small college town,  people were welcoming and open.   Everyone waves when you pass them on the street.

But something was still missing as I attempted to
settle in to my new life here, and I thought a dog couldn't hurt.  Give me someone to talk to.  And I had just seen Reggie's advertisement on the local news.  The shelter said they had received numerous calls right after, but they said the people who had come down to see him just didn't look like "Lab people," whatever that meant.  They must've thought I did.

But at first, I thought the shelter had misjudged me in giving me Reggie and his things,
which consisted of a dog pad, bag of toys almost all of which were brand new tennis balls, his dishes, and a sealed letter from his previous owner.  See, Reggie and I didn't really hit it off when we got home.  We struggled for two weeks (which is how long the shelter told me to give him to adjust to his new home).  Maybe it was the fact that I was trying to adjust, too.   Maybe we were too much alike.

For some reason, his stuff (except for the tennis balls --- he wouldn't go anywhere without two stuffed in
his mouth) got tossed in with all of my other unpacked boxes.   I guess I didn't really think he'd need all his old stuff, that I'd get him new things once he settled in.  But it became pretty clear pretty soon that he wasn't going to.

I tried the normal commands the shelter told me he knew, ones like "sit" and "stay" and
"come" and "heel," and he'd follow them - when he felt like it.  He never really seemed to listen when I called his name --- sure, he'd look in my direction after the fourth or fifth time I said it, but then he'd just go back to doing whatever.   When I'd ask again, you could almost see him sigh and then grudgingly obey.

This just wasn't going to work.  He chewed a couple shoes and some unpacked boxes.
  I was a little too stern with him and he resented it, I could tell.
The friction got so bad that I couldn't wait for the two weeks to be up, and when it was, I was in full-on search mode for my cell phone amid all of my unpacked stuff.  I remembered leaving it on the stack of boxes for the guest room, but I also mumbled, rather cynically, that the "damn dog probably hid it on me."

Finally I found it, but before I could punch up the
shelter's number, I also found his pad and other toys from the shelter...I tossed the pad in Reggie's direction and he snuffed it and wagged, some of the most enthusiasm I'd seen since bringing him home.  But then I called, "Hey, Reggie, you like that?  Come here and I'll give you a treat."  Instead, he sort of glanced in my direction --- maybe "glared" is more accurate --- and then gave a discontented sigh and flopped down .... with his back to me.

Well, that's not going to do it either, I thought.  And I punched the shelter phone number.

But I hung up when I saw the sealed envelope
Folks ain't got a sense of humor no more. They don't laugh they just get sore.

Need to follow the rules. Just hard to determine which set of rules to follow
Now the rules have changed again.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SVT_Tactical Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/14/2011 at 14:29
Excellent
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jonoMT Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/14/2011 at 16:40
It's a great story and unfortunately fiction, but as they put it at http://www.snopes.com/glurge/reggie.asp

"...that the story may not be literal truth doesn't prevent it from being figurative truth. Those who serve overseas do so at the cost of great personal sacrifice. A tale such as this — literal truth or not — serves to remind us all of how much they give and how much we owe them."

What also gets me is hearing about the dogs they train and then have to destroy after deployments end.
Reaction time is a factor...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lucytuma Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/14/2011 at 19:06
Thanks, nice story!
"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." - Thomas Jefferson
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 3_tens Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/14/2011 at 22:49
Its just a story. A heart touching story. Kind of a dogs tale.
Folks ain't got a sense of humor no more. They don't laugh they just get sore.

Need to follow the rules. Just hard to determine which set of rules to follow
Now the rules have changed again.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote budperm Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/15/2011 at 06:23
Man, cried like a baby!  Gettin emotional in my old age!
Didn't need to hear it wasn't a true story! 
The spirit of the story is true enough for me!
 
                           Salute
"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading".
--Thomas Jefferson



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bugsNbows Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/15/2011 at 08:12
Originally posted by budperm budperm wrote:

Man, cried like a baby!  Gettin emotional in my old age!
Didn't need to hear it wasn't a true story! 
The spirit of the story is true enough for me!
 
                           Salute




+1. I'm getting to be and old softie too.
If we're not suppose to eat animals...how come they're made of meat?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote hunterwingler Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/16/2011 at 00:12
Originally posted by bugsNbows bugsNbows wrote:

Originally posted by budperm budperm wrote:

Man, cried like a baby!  Gettin emotional in my old age!
Didn't need to hear it wasn't a true story! 
The spirit of the story is true enough for me!
 
                           Salute




+1. I'm getting to be and old softie too.
ExcellentExcellent +1 I guess I'm getting old 2
I wasn't upset about the black cat crossing my path this morning but mouthing "your fu@#ed" as he passed was just rude.

If Guns kill people mine are all defective
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GetSome Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/16/2011 at 10:50
Great story.

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