Teddy- The not so cuddly pet

Around 10 years ago, I received the ultimate Christmas present: a leash and a small dish. Puzzled for a moment, I looked around at my family, each person smiling ecstatically. Suddenly I gasped with an amazing understanding and jubilantly squeezed each and every person in the room. I was finally getting a puppy of my own!

The next week we went to the Humane Society to find the right match for our family. There were dogs there of every shape and size, every color and age, but only one that I knew was mine. Teddy was a thin yellow lab with chocolate brown eyes that called to me. Around his entire waist was a scar, as if someone had tried to completely saw him in half. "Be careful with this one...he has been abused" the helper reminded me. In a loving trance I ignored the pertinent information and insisted Teddy would be my new puppy. Succumbing to my adorable 9 year old smile, my parents agreed and we brought home the new addition to our family.

Teddy took a shine to me right away. We had an agreement: I would let him sleep with me, pet him, feed him, let him outside, etc, and he would not bite me. Unfortunately I don't think Teddy had that arrangement with anybody else. Constantly feeling threatened he would growl viciously with the hair sticking straight up around his savage scar if someone so much as looked at him the wrong way. Once, Teddy did more than just bear his teeth. In the middle of the night, my brother awoke to go to the bathroom. As he tiredly stumbled down the pitch black hallway, he accidentally stepped on Teddy's tail. With a sharp snap, in just an instant my brother was bleeding from his left calf. Worried and upset, my parents put their foot down and said, "No more. Teddy is too dangerous and we have to return him. "

Desperately begging to keep my dog, I convinced my parents to enroll him in a dog training class instead. Hesitantly agreeing, the process started. After a few weeks, things seemed to be getting better. Teddy was calmer and generally seemed more comfortable.That is until the day my friend Cassie came over. Not understanding his boundaries, Cassie put her face right up next to Teddy's and then came the blood curdling scream. As the blood oozed from her bitten lip, the tears flowed from my eyes as my heart sank. I knew that was it. That was his last chance. If only I could have made him understand. I know he wasn't savage or mean on the inside, he was just scared and couldn't understand.

Still, I admitted Teddy was not the right match for our household. We called the Humane Society and explained our situation. "What will happen to him?" I worriedly asked. The answer was anything but comforting. "He will be reevaluated and either placed with a new home or put to sleep." Until he could be seen, he would have to wait inside a small kennel. Petrified of Teddy being killed, I tried to make him feel as loved and comfortable as possible.

When I was just a new born baby all of the women in my church hand made me a quilt. I rubbed that quilt all over my body to pick up my scent and placed it with Teddy along with his favorite toys. I said my tearful goodbyes and that was the end. I will never know what Teddy's fate was. The lady at the desk claims that information must stay confidential, but I do know I will always remember Teddy and the short time he was my dog.