Andy's First Full Day

From Andy’s perspective, the new surroundings must have been scary for him. He no longer had his mom or any puppies to keep him company and play with. Now he was surrounded by big dogs and a big man. How imposing Abby and Father must have seemed to a little puppy such as Andy is something I wondered.

The most notable story in Andy’s first full day with us was a good ol’ game of “Cooky coo”. Andy had no idea this was a game or even what to expect when I climbed to the top of the slide. Andy was directly across the pool from the slide. I can still see Andy looking up at me curiously as I stood on top of the slide staring at him. My mom was in the corner of the pool at the shallow end opposite of where the steps were. She liked that spot because 1) it was in the shallow end 2) she is barely over 5ft 3) the spot was a good place to catch the last remnants of the afternoon sun before the shadows were cast across the pool starting at the deep end and finally ending up at the shallow end. My mom was diagonally across the pool from Andy, that is, halfway around the pool. So, Andy was on the ledge, I was on top of the slide and where Abby and Father were, I do not know.

Andy was looking up at me still in an inquisitive manner. At this moment, I yelled in a high-pitched voice “COO COO” and jumped in the water straight towards Andy. Upon surfacing immediately afterwards, I looked up and saw that Andy was gone. The poor guy was so scared that he ran all the way around the pool straight into my mom’s arms. As far as my mom was concerned, this absolutely sealed the deal about if she loved Andy or not. Andy couldn’t have endeared himself to my mom anymore than what he just did. I found out quickly that Andy has a nervous disposition when he was huddled in fear by my mom. My eccentric and erratic behavior didn’t help matters.

This moment would forge a close relationship Andy and my mom had with each other. There was no doubt that he was my mom’s dog and only my mom’s. My mom wouldn’t have to share Andy with me like she did Abby. Abby loved me, my mom and even Father, but each in a different way. There was no doubt to anyone knowing us that Abby favored me the most, but that didn’t mean she wanted me and me only. We all had our roles in her life. Take one of us away and it would make her life a little more empty and a little more lonely.

Andy loved my mom and loved to be with her. He slept with her and even had his own spot with her up by her pillow. When my mom would read, he didn’t sit on the floor like Abby; he sat beside her or behind her on the couch. I wasn’t upset Andy didn’t take a shine to me. I was moving from Raleigh soon. Andy was my mom’s dog which was the way it was supposed to be.