How special dog found his home

My husband Robert got home from work earlier than I did. In the summer afternoons, he spent a lot of time across the street with our neighbors Wade & Vivian Cowen. Sometimes he would help them shell lima beans or snap green beans. They were in their seventies and were newlyweds. Wade had brought his little brown dog into the marriage.

They both had lost their mates. Anyway, Robert became attached to the dog, Webster, who was a very smart Heinz-57 mix.

Before long, Wade died and left Vivian and Webster alone. Vivian would spend a few days with her son & his family in Georgia. She would take Webster to the vet’s for them to board him while she was gone. She wasn’t real fond of the dog anyway.

She made a comment to Robert that Webster got a kidney infection every time she left him. Robert asked me if would mind if we kept him when she went away. I reluctantly consented.

The next time she went on a trip, we kept Webster for her. He was house-broken and content to be with us. Robert told her if she ever wanted to get rid of Webster, we would take him.

One day, while I was at work, my co-worker, who was a neighbor, told me that Vivian had taken Webster to the vet for them to find another home for him. I was so angry and I called Vivian and I was not able to control my anger when I asker her why she had done that. I told her that Robert had told her we would take him. She remarked that she didn’t think we needed another dog. (At the time we had our son’s black Lab, that we were keeping until he had a place for her. She had a pen and a doghouse.)

I left work, using my lunch hour, to get the dog. I called the vet’s office and told them that I was on my way to get Webster. I was afraid they would euthanize him before I got there.

When I arrived, he came walking out and came right to me. He put his front paws on my legs. These people always charge when you adopt a pet. When I asked them the price, they said that I did not owe them anything. All of the personnel were smiling. I think they were delighted that Webster was getting a home.

Without a problem, Webster went walking to my car, with a happy demeanor. I did not have to carry him. Did he know he was going home?

He had never even been in my car. He went right to my car and hopped in when I opened the door. He got up in my lap, so he could look out the window.

When we neared home, Webster got excited. He began to whine and his tail was wagging with excitement. Then he did some happy barks. I put a leash on him with a long chain and tied him to a tree, because I was afraid he would go back across the street to home. I had to go back to work.

Robert did not know what had happened, as his work place did not encourage phone calls except in an emergency. When I got home, Robert had Webster in the house with him. After about 4 days, we did not put him on a leash. In those days, we could let a dog run loose. He never left the yard, unless we were with him.

Surprisingly, he never offered to go across the street to his original home. Robert commented that he knew I had rescued him. It seems that was the way he felt.

Robert had a vegetable garden, so one day, he called Vivian and asked her to help him shell lima beans. Webster barely acknowledged Vivian.

He acted as if he did not know her. We could not believe the way he acted. He knew we loved him, and he was very content with us.

As the years passed, Webster got arthritis and I had to carry him up and down the steps to permit him to use the bathroom. He was probably14 years old at the time. He began to have seizures. We did not take him to the vet, as we felt it was part of his aging.

He began to worsen and Robert and I had to make the difficult decision. Robert would not go with me to the vet’s.

I held the precious little dog that had brought so much joy to our lives and cried as he breathed his last. I would not let the vet keep his body. I cried all the way home.

Robert buried him in the garden where he had spent so many happy hours, following Robert while he was working there. It was a sad decision that we made, but Webster had gotten to the point where he had not quality of life. He had been very happy with us for several years.

Ironically, his former owner died a year after Webster came to live with us.