My son, Mike, was in the fifth grade and wanted to become involved in the local 4-H program, specifically the dog program. Since we didn’t have the room for any livestock, we thought this was the ideal project for him. We had several dogs at the time however, none of them were suitable for a 10-year old to try and train. We would have to get a new dog.

We tried the local humane society but nothing that they had there seemed quite right. Next we headed out to Unicorn Point Animal Sanctuary (UPAS). This local organization had not been in operation long but they were making a real name for themselves since they were a true no-kill animal sanctuary.

I explained to my son that he had one chance to pick the right dog. I mean, if we didn’t like the dog we could always bring it back and try another one but I didn’t feel that this was fair either for the dog or the people at the sanctuary. I was willing to add one dog to our family and that dog would be his dog. However, if that dog did not work out for 4-H then he just could not do 4-H. He agreed.

He found one dog that he liked. It was a mixed breed mutt named Prince. He was a slim dog, about knee high, a mottled brown color, and about nine months old. They told us that he might get a touch bigger but not much. He seemed like a nice enough dog and was about the right size. We’d seen him at other UPAS events and I wondered a bit why he had not yet been adopted. Mike wanted him. I reiterated my stipulation that this was his one and only shot at getting a good 4-H dog and he understood. Prince was the dog he wanted, so Prince was the dog we brought home.

By the following Saturday morning, Prince was becoming a real member of the family. He had not been with us a week at that time. My husband, Tim, and I were sitting out in the living room but Mike was still in bed.

Tim looked at Prince and said, “That boy has been in bed long enough don’t you think? Why don’t you go wake him up? Go on Prince, go wake him up.”

Tim was pointing to the living room door and the dog sat in front of him, staring intently at his face.

Still pointing at the door, Tim tried again, “Go on, Prince. Go wake up the boy. Go on. Go get him.”

Suddenly, the dog spun around, dashed out of the room, down the hall and into Mike’s bedroom. Prince jumped up onto Mike’s chest, licked his face three times, and dashed back down the hall into the living room. Mike yelled and we laughed, and Prince sat square in front of Tim with his ears pricked and his head cocked to one side as if to say, “Okay, I did that, now what?”

The next morning, Mike was up and Tim and I were still in bed. I was lying on my tummy on the edge of the bed in that half sleep/ half awake state where you can hear what’s going on but it all seems far away. I could hear Mike in the living room with the dog, and they were plotting revenge.

Mike said, “Okay, Prince, it’s payback time. Go wake up dad, go on go get him.”

It got very quiet and suddenly I had that feeling that I was being watched. I slowly opened one eye and there was Prince sitting straight and tall in the middle of our room, and he looked . . . . . . confused.

In that instant, I knew exactly what the dog was thinking. He knew he was supposed to wake up dad, but to get to dad he had to go over mom (me) and he didn’t want to wake up mom ‘cause she might get mad. He was stuck.

Suddenly, he saw me looking at him – and I swear he smiled. It was as if he suddenly thought, “Oh good, she’s awake!”

The dog leaped over me and landed on Tim’s chest, licked his face three times, jumped back over me and dashed out of the room and back to his boy.

While Tim sputtered and wiped his face, I told him that the dog was starting to scare me.

With Prince by his side, Mike qualified for state competition four years in a row. He was a really smart dog. We had him for about thirteen years before he passed away. Toward the end, he was totally blind but could still find his way around the house and in and out the back door.

He was a great dog and will be missed.


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