When my husband and I first met, he was a cat-person. In fact, he came from a family of cat-people. Apparently, when my husband was growing up, he and his family had an amazing cat named, Morris who could do tricks and came when you called…basically, a cat who acted like a dog. When we were dating we talked about having a pet and he was of the opinion we should not have anything since I am allergic to cats and since he was not fond of dogs. This was nearly a deal-breaker for me. I had grown up with a dog as a family pet since I was a baby and could not imagine living without a dog to come home to, to walk and to take care of on a daily basis. A little over a year later, I received a glimmer of hope that my husband may have a dog-person hidden inside him.

When my parent’s dog of thirteen-years started to show signs of illness, they were certain it was only a matter of time before they would have to put her down. My mom expressed interest in getting a puppy to take her mind off losing Pearl. Since her birthday was coming up, I decided to surprise my mom by finding a puppy for her. I soon found a little puppy that was living with a man on a farm. When I went to check out the puppy listed in the ad was shocked at how filthy he was – the current owner would let him run around all day with the animals on the farm and his puppy hair was matted and stinky. As I was about to leave, the puppy reached his little paw out to me as if to say, “Take me home with you.” That was all it took. I came back the next day, purchased him and took him to the groomer to clean him up before surprising my mom. My husband went with me to pick the new puppy up from the groomer and to take him to my mom’s house. The little dog was adorable and had cleaned up very well. As we were driving to my mom’s house, I suddenly had a thought, “What if she did not like this dog?” I expressed this fear to my husband and he replied as he cuddled the newly groomed pup, “If she does not like him, we can take him home with us.” I was so surprised by his reaction I nearly drove off the road.

My mom was elated by the surprise and named the puppy Murphy, a name suggested by my husband. My husband was so taken by Murphy he would come pick him up on days he worked from home and take him to our apartment to hang out with him and would ask for Murphy to have sleep-overs on the weekends. He soon taught Murphy how to fetch and to walk off leash. I could not believe how much he enjoyed hanging out with a dog and how much fun they had together. A few years later, we ended up moving across the country and leaving Murphy was very had for my husband. A few months after our move, Murphy ended up fathering a litter of puppies. I flew home to visit my parents around the time the puppies were born and called my husband to tell them how cute they were and how much they looked and acted like Murphy. I ended up flying home with two of the puppies from the litter and was greeted at the airport by my husband who was grinning from ear to ear, anxious to meet our new little Murphy-pups.

We were soon taking our pups everywhere and it did not take long for my husband’s family, a group of cat-lovers, to fall in love with our new pets. I knew they were smitten when my father-in-law started keeping a box of dog bones at his house and actually laughed as our dogs chased his cat around the house. My husband’s step-mother soon had a photo of the pups at her work to show customers and my mother-in-law suddenly became very thoughtful in buying presents for our dogs to be sure they were included in holidays and other special occasions. I was pleasantly surprised to see how our dogs had worked their way into the hearts of my husband’s family of cat-lovers.