Sometimes you don’t choose a dog – the dog chooses you. For a couple of weeks a stray pure bred Border Collie, without any collar or identification tag, had been roaming our neighborhood. My husband had noticed him and was inquiring our neighbors about the dog. No one seemed to know anything about him, except he showed up in our neighborhood about two weeks earlier and he seemed lost. During this same time, our little grandson who lived with us was requesting a younger brother or sister that he could have as a playmate. Since that was not a possible solution, we started debating about obtaining a dog. There just seems to be a natural bonding between a boy and his dog.

My husband approached the dog, and the dog seemed to have a sixth about my husband. He followed my husband into the backyard where he was fed and watered. We have a big back yard with a tall wooden fence. As a family we became acquainted with him; he, also became acquainted with us during the evening. We named him Buddy since he was such a friendly dog. During that first evening we, including Buddy, felt like we were a family.

When Buddy showed up on your doorstep, it may seem like fate; however, we still felt we needed to legally evaluate the situation. The next morning we took Buddy to our neighborhood veterinary for a complete physical, as with normal male dogs, he had been fixed. The veterinary examined Buddy for an identification implant, and made some contacts, to find out if anyone had reported a missing Border Collie, but without success. We put up signs and placed ads for the stray dog; secretly hoping no one would claim him. After waiting for a month, and no one notified us of a missing dog, we officially claimed Buddy as our family dog.

When we adopted a dog that had shown up as a stray in our neighborhood, we were not only gaining a great companion, but we may also be saving that dog’s life. There is something especially rewarding about taking in a stray dog and giving him love and care. Even though dogs are man’s best friend, it helps when we choose our friends wisely. We had to think about how a new dog was going to change our lives. Buddy was going to take up our time and energy with feeding, grooming, exercise, and play. Buddy, being a Border Collie, would especially require a lot of attention and playtime.