A Cup of Conversation – June 2019

We kept this big guy. Look at that face. How could we not? Mary calls him Happy. That’s fine for a house pet but not for a hunter. I’ll call him Happ when he’s in the field. It works.

Happy was the firstborn and the biggest pup all the way through weening. By the second week a strange large growth developed on his skin and matted deep in the fur. It was unsightly and impossible not to notice. Happy was blemished and the prospects of someone wanting him were slim.

Happy got his name because his mood was a constant bright light. The first to pounce, the first to wag, the first to lick in love. He was the biggest but never bullied the smaller and weaker. It is almost like Happy knew he was blemished so had to be…better. I told Mary he was ours if no one wanted him. Candidly, I had my favorite picked out from day one and it wasn’t Happ.

By week four it was time to have the vet take a look at the growth in his fur. She was very gentle and methodical. Happ’s fur was shaved down to the skin and it was difficult to tell how deep the growth went. We’d just have to see what grew back. Week five and six, potential owners came by to check out the pups. They all inquired to the bald spot and mottled skin on the largest male. After hearing what we knew, they quickly moved on to the other pups. Clearly, Happy-pup was damaged goods. Over the weeks, we’d accepted Happy’s imperfection and focused on the virtues making him so special.

By week seven all the pups were spoken for expect Happ and my original favorite who was never on the market. By the eighth week, Happ’s fur had grown all the way back and there was no sign of further growth in his skin. I had a decision to make.

Throughout the weeks, there was a family deciding if they could fit another dog in their busy lives and if so, which pup? The parents had picked a beautiful silver-white female we called Silver but their middle-school aged daughter loved Happy from the start; ugly blemish and all. She’d come by after school to spend time in puppy heaven all the while holding Happy and loving on him in particular. The family eventually decided things were too much in transition to take on a puppy so regretfully had to pass altogether. A tough call, especially for the daughter.

In the end, we chose Happy in honor of the special young lady who naturally loved without prejudice in a shallow, cynical world. She looked beyond the flesh and into the substance of that blemished little pup, a virtue she valued far more. What a rarity in a society worshipping beauty and image above all else. Whatever the parents did raising that sweet girl, we need to bottle it up and distribute it widely.

Be good not bitter.