It’s been a hot minute since I’ve bragged about my fur baby, so I thought I’d take a minute to do so today. I know everyone says their dog is the best, but mine seriously is. I know I rescued him from the pound, but in a way, he rescued me, too. He gave me something I desperately needed: a constant companion to be by my side no matter what. I know it sounds silly, but without Dobby, I don’t think I could have moved into my own place. I’m a bit of a chicken, but he makes me feel safe. I’ve always got him to guard the house and protect it from whatever – he did fight off a muskrat that was sitting outside the door once!

He always seems to know when I’m sad or not feeling very good. He’ll cuddle up right beside me as if that’s his way of telling me that I’m not alone, and he’s there for me. And he’s a pretty darn good cuddler to boot!

He’s come a long way since I first got him. He still barks at nothing from time to time, but he listens 100000X better than he did before, and we’ve figured out how to enjoyably go for walks together – we don’t use a leash. Before, I was fighting him all the time because all he wanted to do was explore. Now that I’ve got the shock collar, I’m able to let him roam around freely, and I know he’s going to listen to the commands on the remote, so I’m not worried he’s going to run off. It just works better for us both that way!

A scary event happened while we were on our walk on Thursday evening, and even though it was scary at the time, looking back, I’m glad Dobby was there with me. He’s like my unofficial support dog, because he kept me calm. We were walking back home, Dobby was a few feet in front of me, and all of a sudden this van goes off the road, onto the bike path, and into the trees where they smash into a large tree that eventually stops them. The van was a lot closer to Dobby than it was to me, so my first reaction was to call him to me because I didn’t want him to get hit. Once he was by my side, I stood there in shock for a minute, looking around and thinking: “holy crap, am I the only one who saw that?!”

I kept Dobby close to my side while we approached the vehicle to see if the passengers were okay. The lady in the passenger seat was able to crawl out the back seat door, and when I asked if I needed to call 911, she said yes. The car was smoking and making a lot of noise, so I went off to the side to call for help so I could hear. Dobby stayed by my side this whole time. He sat down right beside me, and instead of wandering around and getting in the way, he comforted me while I walked the dispatcher through what happened. He even tried to comfort the passenger, who was clearly in shock of what just happened, by sitting down beside her and letting her pet him. For those who know Dobby, this is a pretty big deal, because Dobby doesn’t usually do very well around strangers. He was the comforting body we all needed in that moment.

When the firemen and the police arrived, they went to work to get the driver out of the vehicle. He supposedly had a seizure while he was driving and lost control of the vehicle. He was able to walk away from the car though, so he wasn’t too badly injured. While the medics were looking him over in the ambulance, the other firemen all took interest in Dobby, asking me what kind of dog he is, what’s his name, and making comments about how calm he was. This was an even bigger deal, because Dobby is even worse around strange men he doesn’t know. He let the firemen love up on him though, and it actually lightened up the mood and made the whole situation a little less scary. I was super proud of him!! I don’t know if he actually knew what was going on or not, but he did an excellent job of staying calm and being a good “shoulder to lean on” during the event. Even walking the rest of the way home, he stayed real close to my side instead of going off and exploring. It was as if he was worried something like that would happen again, and he wanted to stay near me to protect me.

He’s been close by my side every since, and even as I write this, he’s laying by my feet. He is such a good boy, and I thank God every day we found each other. I don’t know what I would do without this crazy boy in my life!

Until next time! 🙂

Megan Reiffenberger