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“Aww, how about this one?” She says, pressing her face against the glass. The tag outside the door simply reads-
-male
-german shepherd mix
-adult- about 2/3 years old
No cute story, no background information, nothing. Most of the other dogs had names and personality traits, but this guy just laid in a ball in the back of his crate on the tiny cot they supplied. His food bowl went uneaten.
Leon was on the other side of the room looking at the room of the sunny little puppies all running around and playing with each other, their happiness was infectious as Leon found a smile plastered to his face.
“Leon, come look at this guy, he looks so sad” Ashley pleaded, her heart instantly set on the adult dog. “He's just about Chiefs age”.
Leon walks over and joins Ashley by her side. She was right, Chief was already around 3 years old, getting an older dog would probably be more beneficial, so they could grow old together.
“This guy?” Leon asks, not teasingly or mockingly, just genuinely curious. He looked so sad, and helpless. He wondered if this sweet boy ever knew love a day in his life.
Ashley looks up at him, sparkles in her eyes, he already knew there was nothing that was going to keep her from this dog. When her heart was set, there was nothing she wouldn't do to get what she wanted.
“Let's ask one of the workers before we get our hearts set on him okay?” he said, his voice soft and caring. There was nothing he wouldn't do to make Ashley happy. She nodded her head at him, grabbing his hand and looking at the puddle of brown and tan fur in the corner.
He was really cute.
As the years went on, they had discovered that even though they gave Chief all the attention they could, he still had so much energy at the end of the day. One of his colleagues brought their dog over to play with Chief and he had never seen the black lab so happy before. That evening Ashley already had her heart set on getting him a friend.
One of the workers noticed them looking at the German Shepherd and walked on over. “This guy is new, just became available last week” his voice came out almost sad sounding.
“Does he have a name?” Ashley asked the man, “What's his story?”
The man paused, his nametag read ‘James’. “We don't really know honestly. He was surrendered here a few weeks ago, just showed up in an abandoned crate. He needed to be quarantined at first, but since then, he's just been sad.” James stared at the dog huddled in the corner, talking like he could feel the dog's pain. “He doesn't have an official name yet, but I've been calling him Biscuit”.
Leon knew all too well what it must have felt like to be quarantined all by yourself, not knowing what was going on. He sympathized with the dog, seeing a part of himself in him, knowing how scared he must have been.
As James said his name the dog perked his ears up, which brought a laugh out of Ashley.
“I think he likes that name,” she giggled. “Can we see him?”
Leon cut in before the man had a chance to answer, “We have another dog at home, is Biscuit good with dogs?”
“Ohh he's great with other dogs,” the man replied. “He's sad when he isn't with them, but protocol has us house the dogs by themselves.”
Ashley looked at Biscuit, “I can't blame him, I wouldn't want to be locked in a room like this all alone either”.
The man nodded at her and then ushered them into the meeting room on the other side of the facility. Leon paced the room while they waited for James to bring in Biscuit.
“Kind of funny isn't it” Ashley broke the silence and pulled Leon from his pacing. He turned his head and raised a brow at her. “A big dog like that, with such a cute name like Biscuit”.
Leon walked over and sat on the couch next to her. “Do you wanna keep the name Biscuit?”
She nodded her head at him, “I think we might have to, he responded really well to his name earlier”.
Just then James entered with Biscuit on a leash. Closing the door behind him Ashley and Leon stood up to meet him.
The quiet reserved dog from earlier was absolutely bouncing with energy, a complete 180 from the sad dog they saw just minutes ago.
James locked eyes with the couple, “You guys ready? He can be a bit rowdy at first, but he settles down.” They both nodded their heads. The moment the leash was off Biscuit came barreling towards them, tail wagging a mile a minute. He ran excited circles around the two of them, smelling every inch of them he could.
Ashley was a giggling mess as she pet the dog and let him sniff her. Leaning down to his level he licked a long strip up her entire face almost knocking her over. Leon's heart swelled watching her interact with the pooch.
Getting a good sniff on Ashley, Biscuit moved to Leon who knelt on the ground next to him. The fluffy ball of energy laid down and offered his belly to Leon who gladly obliged, giving the dog belly rubs.
“I think he likes you,” Ashley murmured, sitting down next to Leon. He turned to her and saw the love and admiration in her eyes. He knew what she was feeling. It was the same way he felt whenever he saw Ashley in her element at work.
Ashley watched as she was sure what she was witnessing was Leon falling in love with the new companion.
“If you guys like him,” James interrupted, “ because you have another dog, we can offer a foster-to-adopt option. It's like a trial period, to make sure that the two dogs get along together. If they do, then you give us a call back, and we can finalize the paper work, and the dog will be yours.”
Ashley looked into Leon's crystal blue eyes, and nodded her head at him, with him reciprocating just moments later. The silent conversation held in their gaze.
“We'll take him,” they both said in unison. Ashley turned to the ball of fluff who was still demanding belly rubs from Leon, “Let's go home Biscuit”.
The paperwork flew by faster than he had anticipated. Who knew having the President of the United States as a reference would work so well in their favor.
Getting home, Leon opened the car door for Ashley and Biscuit who were sitting in the back seat.
“Okay, Welcome home Biscuit” Ashley whispered to him, taking him straight to the backyard while Leon went inside and got Chief ready.
“Chief boy, I'm home” Leon called out, as Chief popped off the couch to greet him, his ears instantly perking up as he smelled the foreign smells on Leon.
“I must smell like your new little brother,” Leon laughed. As if Chief could sense the disturbance of a new person in his home, he ran straight for the backdoor, jumping with anticipation. Leon cracked the door just a few inches calling out to ashley,
“You ready Ash?”
“Let him out!” she yelled back.
Opening the door Leon watched as the dogs ran up to each other, keeping just a few feet of space between them before instantly going straight to sniffing each other's butts. The nervous energy Ashley had about introducing the two of them quickly dissipated into nothing as the pair of dogs ran around the back yard at full speed chasing after each other.
Leon walked over and wrapped his arm around Ashley, pulling her to him. “It's like their best buddies already”.
Pressing her head to his chest and looking out at Chief and Biscuit rolling around in the grass, her heart swelled. They were already acting like they've known each other for years.
“Should I call the pound and say we'll keep him?” Leon murmured into her hair, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head.
Ashley didn't answer him. Their playful barks and wagging tails was all the answer he needed.