Garry Potter: The Pup Who Lived

I've always had a dog or dogs in or near my life.  Pinky was our first dog, then came Chief, Honey (who became Steve) and Duke.  Those were all family dogs.  The first dog I owned after that was Carol.  Andrew (my best friend and roommate) and I adopted a german sheppard puppy and named her Carol.  Were we the best dog parents?  Probably not.   We loved her though.  She wasn't the smartest dog in the world, and she was goofy as all get out.  When we moved out we were both moving to places that couldn't accomodate a German sheppard so now she became a farm dog and is frolicking in a field in north Mississippi, happy as could be.

The next puppy to enter my life came accidentally.  I was working at Republic Coffee (RIP) and a clean, fluffy, adorable puppy with no collar was just wondering around the patio.  Those who know the area know that this is not a safe place for a cute little puppy to be roaming about.  I took her inside to everyone to ask if she was there's.  Nope.  So I took her home, put up posters the next few days and luckily no one responded to the posters because I immediately fell in love with this little nugget.   Luckily my roommate at the time (Lisa) was ok with living with this adorable little monster.

When it came time for me to move accross the country, I knew I wouldn't have time or money to keep her, so I diligently searched for a new home for Lucie.  Graciously my friends in Denton, TX (which so happen to be my first stop on the move to Seattle) agreed to love Lucie, so she found a happy new home.  Interestingly enough Lucie lives in Memphis again with Megan and Daniel and who just added a new beautiful human puppy to their family.

The picture I sent to Dana

So after 4 years in Seattle living in places that couldn't accomodate dog, we finally moved into the artist Reformation house and were determined to get a dog.  I say we, but I think I was probably more motivated than Dana.  So I started digging into the interwebs, visiting animal shelters, and watching puppy videos on YouTube.  One day I was at work, and was clearing my head from working on the schedule and so I was looking at adopt puppy websites.  KONA popped up.  I immediately took a picture of the computer screen and sent it to Dana with something along the lines of "OMG OMG OMG OMG".   The next day we were took Kona home from the Seattle Humane Society.

At the Artist Reformation house we had 7 people living there so coming up with a name for Kona was fun because for a few days we just kept throwing names around.  We finally settled on one of Dana and my original ideas of Garry Potter.  (Pizza was the 2nd place finish)

his best human friend Hannah

his best dog friend Mercy

Ever since then Garry has been a constant source of entertainment, love, 
kisses, frustrations, late nights, and having to buy more socks and underwear.  He has a best human friend and a best dog friend.  He is a super smart and really goofy little dude.  It's been a whirlwind for sure.  Garry is the first dog that I really felt was a part of my family and not just a creature that I was responsible for.  I think it's because sometimes I want to murder him for being such a little jerk, but I don't, because I love him.  We let him into our bed in the morning for family cuddle time. We put goofy costumes on him.  He's a member of a Canine Social Club.

One of my favorite things that he does from time to time goes like this:  I get home super late from closing the restaurant.  Out of our room moseys half-asleep Garry Potter.  Sleepily wagging his tail, he walks up to me, I pet his head, and then he turns right back around and gets back in bed with Dana (he sleeps up there until I put him in his own bed when I get home).   There is way more enthusiastic greetings that I get from him on a daily basis, but it's this one that sticks out in my mind.  This sleepy "hey, glad you're home.  I'm going back to bed now"  is the best for sure.

Did this post have a real point or deeper meaning?  Not really, I just love our dog.  Even if he barks at anything that moves outside our gate or has a humping issue at the dog park, or kicks me right in the nuts on occasion.

He's a pretty fantastic pup.