My Roxy

You've seen countless photos of my 2 little ones, Roxy the wonderdog and Crackers-the-Cat. Many of you have even met and love them. This post is about Roxy. She's my 3 year old black lab who hates having her photo taken.

She is the first dog I've ever had, and was randomly added to the Holt household. I was going through a difficult time back then, and my father would drag me to the park under pretenses of needing some vitamin D. We would take really long walks and talk about all the people with dogs and all the dogs with people. We discussed how we are not 'dog people.' Then we discussed what kind of dog we would have if we were in fact 'dog people.'

Then my Dad offered (kind of) to buy me a dog. I think it was his last ditch effort to get me out of the funk I was in, but it worked. He looked through the paper for puppies. He bought a puppy book (which I'm not sure we ever opened, nor do I know where it is now although I do believe it was 'Puppies for Dummies.')

And one day, my mom, sister-in-law Breena, and I were at El Camino and he called. An ad for a puppy in Swanton looked promising and a phone call later, we had set up a meet n greet time for that night. Dad decided to stay home so it was "just" Mom, Breena, Andy and I who went to meet our future dog.

We walked in the door, I squatted down to pet her, she dived right into me and knocked me over. We gave the family twice what they asked for her, and left that night with my dear Roxy.

Having had no supplies whatsoever, and no idea what to do with a dog other than try to figure out a new name, we had to stop at Pet Supplies Plus. Pretty sure it was 8:50, and the store probably closed at 9. Roxy didn't start out as Roxy. She started out as Angel. I remember specifically my mom telling us to never call her that again because it was a horrible name. No offense to dogs named Angel.

Breena and I struggled with our new family addition throughout the pet store who was on a sensory overload, and bumped into a small family. The dad bent down and said to his kids, "Look! She looks just like 'so and so's' dog Roxy!" Breena and I looked at each other, and knew right then that Roxy was the perfect name.

We got home that night with a rambunctious puppy newly named Roxy much to Crackers-the-Cat's dismay. Andy and Dad worked to get the new cage together (it was wrong too) and we all just kind of stared at her.

It was a rough summer for my family. This new adorable little creature wreaked havoc at our house while I was away at school. A couple times, I thought we'd have to find a new home for her but slowly but surely she won over my mom and dad.

She ate my cell phone. A sneaker. A high heel strap. My season 2 House DVD case. A plunger. All within 2 days of moving into my new house in BG that fall. But she was so stinkin cute!

She has eaten everything I've ever offered her, except for pickles. She loves beer and if you are not watching, she will drink it right out of your cup (in your hands!) She prances around when I put a new bandanna on her, because she knows she's pretty.

She's my first dog and I can't imagine ever loving another dog like I love her.

Roxy has to have surgery one week from tomorrow. I gotta say, I'm not all that relaxed about it.