Flash Back

Today is the anniversary of when we got Phil. It was two years ago today that we went to the pet store to pick up our pup.

It all started the day before, May 12, 2006. We were supposed to be in Moab on a family trip with Cal's family and due to certain circumstances the trip was cancelled.

Since we had the day off of work anyway, we decided to take advantage of the time together. We went to a movie and had a fun day together, enjoying each others company, not even imagining what could take place in the next twenty four hours.

On our way home from the movie Theater, we decided to stop into the pet store, to just "take a look". Cal and I had dropped into the pet store numerous times before that day, and it was something that we wanted, a puppy, that is. Something that we always thought that one day we would have, little did we know that that exact day was the day.

We walked into the pet store and went right back to the puppies like we had done so many times before. There he was. A cream and white English Bulldog. Cal looked at me, and I looked at him, and then back at the puppy, and then back at him, and I remember Cal saying, "Oh no...".

I saw that puppy, and I knew that we had to have him. He was perfect in every way to me. The little worker bee at the pet store came up to me and asked if I wanted to hold him. I looked at Cal and he said, "OK, you can hold him." She went to the back and took him out of his cage, and brought him straight to me.

He was so darling. He just snuggled right up to my neck. I could smell his little puppy smell and puppy breath. He was so sweet, and I knew, right then and there that he needed to be ours.

Cal and I talked it over, and looked at him, all over him, we looked at his tail, his belly, his eyes, his nose, everything. As we were talking it over we felt that it was such a big purchase, that we needed to go home and think about it and talk it over. We also felt as though we needed to do a little more research on the breed. I have always wanted an english bulldog, but it is important to know more than just how they look, when purchasing a puppy.

We asked the little gal that worked there if she could hold him for us while we went home to talk it over. She said that she would only be able to hold him for an hour. We would take it, an hour and we would be back.

I kept worrying that someone would come and want to buy him right then and there and we would be out of luck. Cal kept telling me that if he is supposed to be ours, then he will be there when we go back.

Cal and I went home and looked everything up that we could. We took out a piece of paper and wrote down all the pros and cons of owning a dog, and such a high maintenece one at that. Cals good friend Mike's sister worked at the pet store, so we called her to see how the puppy was as a puppy, if he came from a reputable breeder, what he would need, and if he was a well taken care of before we got him. She talked with us and answered all our questions, and Cal and I sat there, thinking it over and he said that we could get him on one condition...he got to pick his name.

SOLD

Even though we knew we wanted him, we decided that the responsible thing to do would be to sleep on it, and then let the pet store know in the morning.

We headed back over to the pet store as he was only on hold for an hour, remember. We got there and they still had about 45 minutes until they were closing for the night. We decided that if we held him for the 45 minutes, then they closed the store, then we came first thing in the morning when they opened, we were sure to get him and still get to sleep on it.

That is what we did.

We went into the store, asked to hold him again, and then I talked, and talked, and talked, and asked question, after question, after question to the gal that worked at the store, and sure enough, I wasted enough time, they closed up shop, and we went home...to sleep on it.

That night we went to dinner with my parents all the while thinking of this little pup at the petstore. My Dad is a major dog owner, and for quite a while, he even bred St. Bernards. So we quizzed my Dad on what we needed to know and what questions we needed to ask and so forth.

We went home that night to go to bed, and neither of us could sleep a wink. It was about 6:00 AM when we decided to finally get out of bed and go grocery shopping. That is what we did. Off to the store we went.

We came home, Cal had a meeting with our Home Owners Association that he had to be to that morning, and as soon as that was over, we were on our way to the pet store to pick up our puppy, Phil.


I was just looking over our Phil folder. It is about a fourth of an inch thick, which to me is a pretty thick little folder for Phil only being alive for two years. I went through all the receipts from our vet visits, our emergency visits to the pet clinic, paperwork from his surgery, all the tags from his shots, all the paperwork for his breed, and for having him papered, all the notes we kept when we first got him, his pedigree, and more and more paperwork from the vets office. I went through it all, and went through two years of memories with our little pup.

It is all worth it. Every visit to the vet, ever treat given to him when he has done something good, every scold when he has done something naughty. His whines when he thinks he deserves something that we have, or how he shows us that he is running this show. It is all worth it.

We love our Pup!