The inspiration for this blog is my grandparents and their love for dogs. In 2017, my grandparents adopted two dogs who were identical twins. My grandfather decided to give one of them to me, and one of them to my Aunt. I chose one of them, named Thoree, mainly because he was a cute little furball. I had never had a dog, so this was my perfect opportunity. Sadly, my grandfather passed away in 2018. The only thing he left behind was the dog that he let me keep. It was the one living influence of his that he left behind. This is the main thing that makes this dog important. 

So, here is how it all started. In 2017 when my grandfather was at Petco with his dog Otto, one of the customers came up to him to ask if he wanted to adopt two shih tzu puppies. The dog’s owner was dying from cancer and someone else needed to take care of those dogs. My grandparents decided to do a trial and ultimately agreed to adopt both puppies. I learned about the dogs first when I went to their house in Atlanta, Georgia. I was allowed to pick one of them, so I decided to pick the friendlier puppy that had a lot of energy, was cuter, and liked to be petted. His name was Spot. My oldest aunt got the other puppy, who’s name was Tip. Spot was later renamed to “Thoree,” and Tip was renamed to “Bruno.”

But, my grandparents already had a dog: Otto. Otto was ten-years old at the time and is still living today. The only reason why he got involved is because Thoree and Bruno kept beating him down. The only person who stopped these puppies was my grandfather. One day, my grandfather left Otto for a few months. Otto, who usually did not greet people in the garage, kept going there to see if my grandfather was there. He never was there, so Otto just turned around and went back to what he was doing. Eventually, everyone took Otto on a fifteen minute journey to a room with a box. The box was big. Otto was held up to see what was in it, and knew from then on that his owner was gone. He became stressed out, because these dogs became worse and worse. He first showed his frustration by snapping at everybody. 

At the time, I wanted to take this little furball home. The problem was that my dad was not into dogs. My mom did not have time for a dog. Because I was seven at the time, I was too young to take care of myself, let alone a dog. So, it was agreed that I could take the dog home when I turned ten. 

In the meantime, I learned how to take care of dogs from my grandparents and how to be more self-sufficient. 

I turned 10 last June in 2021. But at the time, I was starting to have doubts. I do not know if I want to take the dog away from his brother. Will Thoree be sad to leave his brother? What if he is homesick? What if I do not have the time? What if the dog becomes heart-broken? What is he is too attached to my aunt and grandmother. Yes, he would appreciate it for the first month or two. So, I decided to do a trial…

This blog will be about . . .

• My quest about how this internal conflict will be solved 
• Gain insight from books where a dog is a main character
• Research on dogs and types of dogs
• Creative writing pieces from a dog’s (Otto’s) perspective
• About fun times I had with grandparents, especially walking dogs with grandpa and ect.

Every post celebrates a national day. We were planning to start the blog on June 18, one week ago, but problems in the homepage delayed the post. June 18 is National Go Fishing Day! Cast out a line and hope for a lucky catch! I know we were not able to post this article on National Go Fishing Day, but we can still imagine today as June 18. As for today, it is national catfish day! I’ll see you soon!