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by Pettus Read
Eleven years ago this past July, my family adopted a two-year old Dalmatian from the local animal shelter. We had owned one once before and kept Biff for nine years until we had to give him away due to moving to a smaller place without fencing. That dog was special to my wife and myself because he was a part of our life during the BC years of early married life. In other words, that was "Before Children" and a time when a dog could get a lot of attention from a newly married couple. When children arrived on the scene, Biff "adopted" them and was a pretty good protector whenever they played outside.
After years of doing without a large dog and moving to some acreage in the country, we put our name on the local shelter's "wish list," requesting that if they ever had a Dalmatian brought to them, they would give us a call. After two years of waiting, and almost forgetting the request, we returned from a trip out of the country to find a message on our answering machine telling us that they not only had one Dalmatian, but two spotted canines looking for a home. It didn't take us long to return their call and headed out to see if either of their two new boarders would be a match for us.
As I have said, that was eleven years ago, and today, Sally is still keeping guard over our farm. Her eye sight is not what it once was, she can't hear real well, her spots have faded, and she now requests soft food for her meals making her a lot thinner than she used to be, but she is still a good companion for walks around the home place and is a real good listener to my problems when no one else cares.
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