The Popcorn Stand: A tail-wagging day

Today is National Puppy Day, so of course, I can’t pass up the chance to write about puppies. Even though I have two adult dogs, Pete, the almost 10-year-old Shih Tzu, and Tuf-Tuf (you know Sir Tuffington something or other), a more-than 12-year-old Jack Russell, I consider them to be puppies.

Pete is actually pretty mature and tends to go with the flow. When I take Pete to the dog park, he patiently sits by my side, waiting for when it’s time to go home. Although he does sprint to the gate when I start walking that way, signaling it’s time to go home.

And Pete seems to have discovered his second childhood at the dog park. The open space of the dog park seems to have given Pete more freedom to actually play with other small dogs from time to time.

Tuf-Tuf, on the other hand even though he’s older than Pete, acts like a puppy. Some would say he acts like a brat. When it’s time to go home, he continuously barks to let me know it’s time to go home. And of course he also sprints to the gate when I finally start walking that way, signaling it’s time to go home.

Of course, one of the main reasons for National Puppy Day is to encourage adoption. The safest way to adopt is from a rescue facility or an animal shelter such as the one operated by the National Humane Society here in Carson City. Two good websites to go to as a resource for adoption are Petfinder.com and theshelterpetproject.org.

There are also adorable puppy stories out there to celebrate on National Puppy Day such as the one about the chocolate Labrador that gave birth to a green puppy. This story would have only been made better if the green puppy was born on St. Patrick’s Day and was named Shamrock.

Yes, today is National Puppy Day, but every day should be celebrated as a day for puppy love.

— Charles Whisnand