Nancy And Her Nerd

Pet Adoption

Nancy And Her Nerd

When Nancy was ten years old her parents took her to the local Animal Shelter to adopt if she wanted to. This was one of the things she received for her Birthday and, of course, she wanted to go to the Animal Shelter.

While there she studied up for adoption and saw two she was interested in. Mrs. Thomas, the one in charge, told her about the two Dogs. The first was a mixed breed, likely part Hound Dog and part Spitz. And she guessed he was around three months old. The second Dog was obviously part Golden Retriever and part something and Mrs. Thomas told Nancy she was likely two years old and was left with us because the owner  was being shipped overseas and couldn’t take Sally with him.

As her parents waited she studied both Dogs. The younger one, still considered a Puppy, seemed to like attention, even showing off attention and Nancy asked if it had a name. She told Nancy not yet, but a co-worker said it seemed to act like a Nerd for a Dog. Nancy told Mrs. Thomas she wanted to adopt the young, nerd acting Dog and will figure out a name for him after they got him home. After signing the papers Mrs. Thomas provided them with two weeks of Dog Food. Then told them, as far as she knew if was likely already trained to want to poop outside. 

Because it was Saturday afternoon when they got home, Mr. Conners, Nancy’s Father, left to head to a local hardware store to buy them a Dog House and a Cushioned Doggie Bed. After he left Nancy and her Mom watched the Dog in their large yard. Then she looked at her Mother.

“Mom, I’m not going to call him Nerd. But he does seem to like a lot of attention.”

“That’s true, Dear. When I was still a kid sometimes when other kids were trying to showoff, to get our attention, we called them Hams.

“Okay, Mom, and thank you. I’m calling him Ham.”

By Sunday afternoon Kate, George and Ruth, three of here friends who were at her Birthday Party paid her a visit to see her new Dog and Nancy told then his name was Ham.

Kate had brought some Dog Snacks, George a can holding three Tennis Balls and Ruth brought a ‘Tug-Of-War’ rope and a smaller Rubber Ball to play catch with. It didn’t take Han long to figure out the Tug-Of-War Rope needed two people to play the game. And he liked chasing the Tennis Balls. As to the Dog House, Nancy told her friend she doesn’t know if he will use it, but likes the Cushioned Doggie Bed and thinks he slept on it last night.

“You going to add a Doggie Door?” George asked Nancy.

“Dad told me a friend of his who works on upgrading houses will do that before the end of this week.” she told George.

                                                                                                                                               

Will he get lonely when we are at School?” Kate asked next.

“I guess so, Katie. But I can’t be here then.”

“He will get used to it. And when he figures out you always come home, Ham will be okay,” Ruth assured her, then added, “Our Timmy did.”

“Maybe you could bring Timmy over here to see how they get along,” George suggested.

“Has to be after School or Saturday, but we can try,” Nancy replied.

“And next time I come over I’ll bring my camera to see what Ham looks like when I take his picture,” Kate said.

The next Sunday evening Nancy and her Mother were looking at photographs taken of Ham, then transferred to a file on the commuter. 

“It’s sort of weird, Nancy, but if you are in the photo he only pays attention to who is taking the photo. It could be me or your Dad, but he’s looking at us. When no one has a camera that he can see Ham acts differently. I’m sure he doesn’t know what a photograph actually means, but he understands someone is paying attention to him when a camera is pointed at him. So, he knows they are paying attention to him. I think the name Ham is a great choice.