FLOYD THE DOG

Both dogs stood tall, each holding his ground, growling at each other like they were ready for a fight. Royce, the brown and white Bullmastiff, towered over his opponent, Spike, the Whippet/Pinscher mix. Spike knew he would lose against the larger dog, but he had to stand his ground. The only thing that stood between him and a tasty leftover bone was Royce. Spike heard his stomach growl in between his own growls as he struggled to keep his composure.

A door opened in the alley and a man yelled out angrily at them. In the split second that Royce took his eyes off the bone, Spike swooped in and darted away down the alley with Royce not that far behind. Spiked neared the end of the alley and thought he was home free when a net came down on him. Royce, seeing what had happened to Spike, stopped in his tracks, and tried to turn around to run the other way, but he was caught by a rope around his neck and hauled into the back of a van with Spike.

At the shelter, they were inspected by a person called Vet, received a flea bath and an ear cleaning that Spike hated, then taken to their cells.

“Just wait till we get out of here, I’m going to wring your neck.” Royce barked over to the cell next to him where Spike lay covering his ears with his paws.

“Shut up you big ox, you were in my territory.” Spike yelled back.

“Fighting with each other isn’t going to get you out of here, you know,” a nearby older grey dog said in a calm bark as he drank some water. “The humans need to know you’re civilized and have learned your lesson before they let you out.”

“How do we do that?” Spike asked as he sat up.

“Well,” the old dog started to scratch his side with his back paw, “The humans are really big on teaching you commands. You don’t have much time to learn them so I suggest you listen carefully and learn quickly.”

Royce sniffed and turned his back towards the old dog pretending not to listen. Suddenly the door down the hall opened and one of the humans came in. A sturdy middle age woman with crispy brown hair opened the door to the kennel next to the old dog. She picked up a little Corgi who wagged his tale and licked her face.

“Come on, you’re going to your new home today little guy.” She said as she left the room with the Corgi in her arms.

“Where’s he going?” Spike asked anxiously.

The old dog laughed, “He got adopted. He’s going home to his new human family.”

Spiked looked at the door down the hall. He didn’t like this place. He missed running around and digging in the trash for scraps. He stomach growled as he thought about the bone he almost fought Royce for.

Royce turned around to face the old dog, “So tell us about these commands you speak of?”

“They’re pretty basic orders like sit, stay, lay down. They expect you to walk on a lead and not pull or try to get away,” the old dog went on, “When they feed you, you must not attack the bowl or growl, because that counts as ‘bad behaviour’ and holds you back. Don’t try to bite a human either because that will get you held back too.”

“Wow, that’s terrible,” Spike said, “What is ‘held back’?”

The old dog looked very serious. “You are here so that you can be taught how to live with a human family, one which will feed, exercise and generally care for and look after you. Being ‘held back’ means that the humans think that you are not ready to be allowed out” Spikes eyes showed his fear and disbelief. Royce was scared too but stayed calm because he wasn’t sure they could trust this old dog.

The door opened again and two men came in with food bowls. Spike sat and watched one of the men put a food bowl in front of him. Spike dared not to touch it for fear of being held back, so he waited for them to finish feeding all the dogs and then started eating.

The next few weeks flew by. The days were filled with daily walks, scheduled meal times, and ongoing training sessions. Royce and Spike became very good friends with each other and made new friends with some of the other dogs in the Shelter. Then one Saturday morning they were both taken to a local pet store for an adoption day. Royce and Spike sat patiently wagging their tales as humans walked past them into the store with their kids in tow. Some stopped to pet them and ask the shelter volunteers questions. Although neither of them was adopted that day, they both liked all the attention they got.

Later back at the shelter Spike couldn’t stop talking about how great it would be for them both to find a home. Then a visitor came walking through. Some of the dogs started barking to get her attention. The little girl walked past some and stopped to pet others. Her mother came in after her.

“Ok Sarah, pick just one dog.” Her mother said.

When Sarah came to Spike’s kennel she knelt down to touch him. Spike leaned forward to sniff her.. She smelled nice, and he noticed that her hair was neatly combed into two pig tails. She wore a blue and white school uniform and still had her backpack on. Spike liked her and licked her fingers.

“I want this doggie, mother.” Sarah said giggling. Just then Royce began to bark. Sarah got up and went over to Royce.

“Wow this is a big doggie.” She said smiling as she pet him. “Can I have this one too?”

Before her mother could answer her, one of the volunteers came in.

“I see you have met Royce. He’s a nice big dog isn’t he?” The volunteer asked.

“Yes, I like him and I like that doggie too.” Sarah said pointing at Spike.

“Well these two dogs are best friends.” The volunteer replied. “I am not sure about them being separated.”

“I don’t know about having two dogs.” the mother said in a doubtful tone.

“They get along very well and both are great with kids. The both know all the basic commands, and are obedient and well-behaved” The volunteer said smiling.

“Oh please, please mommy,” Sarah started, “I would love to have two doggies. The big one could be for daddy and the little one could be for me.”

“Well yes. It is daddy’s birthday is tomorrow. Maybe he would like a dog.” Her mother replied, her expression brightening. “Let’s do it, then!”

Finally after years on the streets and weeks in the shelter, both Royce and Spike became adopted dogs. They spent the rest of their days playing with Sarah during the day and going for long walks with the whole family in the evening. Both dogs loved their home and their humans, and were happy. Just the same, they never forgot the shelter workers who had cared enough to find them their forever home.