This is our dog, Lester.

Our little dog Dixie died in the fall of 1995. She was a golden Cocker Spaniel and we got her when she was only four weeks old in 1988. Ever since her death, my brothers and I wanted to get another dog, even though my parents didn’t want the hassle of having one. My mom always teased us that the next dog we got would be a little tiny dog who would be her "Precious", and who would wear pretty pink ribbons in her hair and sit on her lap and bite any boys who got too close. Well mom didn’t get her "precious", but she did pick out a pretty good dog.

During the school year of 1995-1996, when I was in the seventh grade, I went the whole year without missing one day of school. My parents wanted to reward me in a special way and asked what would mean the most to me. I responded that I wanted a dog.

But, I didn’t think I would ever get a new dog. Then on the Fourth of July weekend in 1996, my mom was reading the newspaper and saw an ad in the "Adopt-A-Pet" section. The feature of the week was for a German Shepherd mix, and since my mom knew my dad had an affinity for German Shepherds, she jokingly said, "Maybe this is the dog we should get for the boys."

It took my mom completely by surprise when my dad said, "Well, it can’t hurt to go take a look at him." And then when my brothers and I saw the ad, there was no taking "NO" for an answer. My mom called the number of the adoption agency and they said someone was already on their way to pick up this dog to adopt, but that we could come and take a look at him in case they didn’t want him once they saw him. Since we didn’t have anything better to do, we went to take a look.

When we got to the home of Lester’s "foster family", we found they had a variety of dogs as well as a pit bull with a new litter of pups. All the dogs surrounded us and jumped all over us, licking and clawing to be petted. After the excitement died down, the people in charge introduced us to Lester. When they saw how we wanted a dog so bad, and how we took to Lester, they said, "Too bad for the other people who are coming to look at him," and told us we could have him. Lester was as friendly as any of the dogs there until we tried to put him in our van to take him home with us. Then he put on the brakes and we had to physically drag him into the van to take him home.

Lester was very shy with us at first and only wanted to sleep. But, it did not take long before he became an official member of our family. Now we can’ t say the word "bye bye" without him running for the door to go for a ride, and we have to spell certain words, such as "walk" and "bath" and "treat" or face the consequences. Lester is definitely a child’s dog and is very protective of all children, even strangers. Many times he has gotten himself into trouble getting after adults who are with children.

His foster family said he was a stray who was so skinny when found that when he faced you, you could hardly see him. It’s believed he was beaten because he was extremely afraid of men, especially large men. He was found by the Lester River, and so they named him Lester. Mom wanted to rename him Indy because we got him on Independence Day weekend, but we boys said, "NO, his name is Lester!" We could tell he had been living in the rough for a time because he loved to eat grass and road kill. He was full of wood ticks too, and when we put a flea and tick collar on him, all the ticks crawled off him and on to us!

The veterinarian said he thought Lester was about four months old when we got him and thought he was a mix of Shepherd, Lab, and Greyhound. Lester is a very loyal dog who loves to run and play fetch and knows several tricks. His favorite things to do are to go for a walk and be with his boys. Sometimes it seems as if he thinks he is a human like us, (or that we are all dogs like him.) I love him very much and I don’t know what I would do without him.