But I'm Not Supposed To Be a Dog!

- 5 -

Abby put the key in the ignition and looked at Henry. He was now facing her, head cocked at an adorable angle and looking at her curiously.

"You are so cute!" She ruffled his head, then her face lit up. "Let's go to the pet store! I have absolutely nothing for you at home." She scoffed at herself. "Not exactly prepared, am I?" He tilted his head the other way, and she patted his head again. "Sorry, you're a rather unexpected impulse decision."

She drove to Geno's Pet Supply, a little family store that she passed by often. She took Henry with her into the store, smiling at the old fashioned little bell that rang when she opened the door.

"Hello!" a large, balding man boomed from the checkout counter. "If you need help finding anything, let me know!"

She waved her thanks and was immediately drawn to the wall of leashes by the door. "Ooh," she said as she admired the rainbows of colored leashes, collars, and harnesses. "Henry you need one of these! This raggedy old thing they gave me doesn't do you any justice."

She fingered some of the merchandise on display and pulled out a bedazzled purple confection.

"How about something sparkly?" She dangled it in front of Henry.

He covered his face with his paw.

Abby raised her eyebrows. So the dog had an opinion.

"How about this one?" She pulled out a wide black collar with large metal spikes. Henry batted it to the ground.

"Okay, not that one." She perused the rack again, this time pulling out a green collar with orange seams. "I think this one compliments your fur color. What do you think?"

Henry stared politely at her, happily panting. She took this to be a positive sign and affixed the collar around his neck. "Perfect fit! We're taking this one."

After adding a matching leash to her basket, they moved on to dog food. Abby was overwhelmed by all the choices. There were shelves and shelves of lamb and rice, chicken and rice, salmon, beef, venison, whole grain, no grain, wet, dry, freeze dried... this was more variety than the frozen dinner aisle she frequented.

"I don't know, Henry," she said. "You wanna pick one?"

She really didn't expect him to sniff each bag and then pick one by placing his paw on it. This dog was full of surprises. "All right, wild salmon it is! What's next?"

Henry looked around the store, bounded to the toy aisle, and immediately mauled a stuffed chipmunk. "Okay we're taking that one... how about these?" She held up a quacking duck and a squeaking weasel. "Which do you prefer?"

Henry looked up, grabbed both, and placed them into the basket. Abby sighed with amusement. "Boy, you are not a cheap date."

By the time the shopping was finished, she'd exchanged the basket for a cart and wheeled the treasure trove to the checkout counter. The man behind the counter, who turned out to be Geno himself, must have been watching Henry shopping. "That's quite a dog you got there," he said, stroking his mustache. His accent revealed his New York heritage. "I've seen smart dogs, but man, that dog takes the cake. How'd you train him so good?"

Abby shrugged. "I didn't. I just adopted him today!"

"Seriously? That's an amazing dog. You think he can fix my car?"

"At this point, I would only be mildly surprised if he could," she said with a laugh.

"You know what?" Geno said as he picked up a huge basted beef bone from a display and plunked it onto the table. "On the house."

"Wow, thank you!"

"No, thank you! You've made my week."

Abby looked down at her new dog and grinned. "I guess you'll be driving us home next?"

He just might! Just hand over the keys. And a vote. ;)