Almost 16 years ago my wife who to that point had always\nhated being around dogs decided that she wanted one. I didn’t really want a\ndog, but if she wanted a dog, it was like everything else, if she wanted a dog,\nshe was going to have a dog. She did her research, and decided that a she\nwanted a Havanese which was a breed that I had never heard of, but if it was what\nshe wanted and she was going to take care of him it was fine with me. Six weeks\nlater my wife and daughter drove to New Market, VA and came back with a spotted\nblack and white Havanese puppy. He was a friendly pup, but like I said, I\ndidn’t really want a dog, so I just continued to go about my business. Problem\nfor me was that everywhere in the house that I went, the dog would follow, and\nwe all know how that goes long term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several days later we still had not named my wife’s little\npuppy and despite my giving her name after name, she didn’t like any of them.\nThat weekend we were at Fauquier Springs Country Club for dinner and while waiting\nto be seated I ordered a drink and struck up a conversation with Brandon the\nbartender. We told Brandon about our new\nHavenese puppy and how we were struggling to name him. He asked what the dog\nlooked like and I said that he was black and white and immediately, he said\nsounds like a domino. My wife loved the\nname, and thus Domino officially became part of our family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After about 18 months, my wife decided that she didn\u2019t really\nwant a dog and she wanted to give Domino away, to which I said, \u201cDomino is\nfamily, you can\u2019t give him away\u201d. Her\nreply was ok, now he\u2019s your dog! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now as I\u2019ve said several times, I never wanted a dog, but\nDomino was not just any dog. Every day\nfor nearly 16 years, when he heard my key in the door, Domino would come\nrunning to greet me. Every single day,\nsometimes two, three or four times a day he would head to that door to greet\nme. When he was a puppy, he would sit on\nmy lap at night while I was reading or watching TV and he was the perfect partner\nbecause he never once asked for anything to drink other than water. Because he didn\u2019t have any other dogs around\nto learn from, Domino never barked or went up and down stairs until he was probably\n5 years old. When my wife fell ill and\nhad to spend 30 days in the hospital, my friends Ben and Ann let him stay with\nthem so that I could stay at the hospital for almost a month. They had 3 dogs, so Domino was able to\nfinally learn how to be a dog, he learned to climb stairs, and yes to bark as\nwell. When he returned home, much to my\nsurprise he was able to follow me into the basement and the first time that I heard\nhim bark was one evening when my wife when she came home from church and came\nover to hug me. Poor Domino, although he\nhad learned to be a dog, he would never learn to not piss off the lady of the house😊<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Domino had a really good life, he had health and dental\ninsurance, he had his own room in the house, and when we traveled, he was\nallowed to stay in the local pet motel, sometimes for days on end. I still remember the look on the guys faces\nat the club when I told them that I had to take Domino to the Dentist😊 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, Domino was much more than just a dog, he was my friend,\nconfidant, my brother and my son. He\nnever talked back, and always understood when I couldn\u2019t be there, he never judged,\nand he was always there to listen. I\u2019m really\ngoing to miss my old friend, but I know that he\u2019s in Doggie Heaven and that one\nday I\u2019ll be with him again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Love you man!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
p.s. I\u2019ll never forget how hard Ben and I laughed the day\nthat you humped Whit\u2019s leg😊<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Almost 16 years ago my wife who to that point had always hated being around dogs decided that she wanted one. I didn’t really want a dog, but if she wanted a dog, it was like everything else, if she … Continue reading