When my wife Lisa's little Maltese/Pekinese mix, Sammy, crossed the Rainbow Bridge, Lisa understandably missed her tiny companion. None of the family had ever seen an Italian Greyhound before a visit to PetSmart to get some dog food for our remaining two dogs.
It was "Adopt a Pet" day from a local rescue and two of the dogs up for adoption was a female Iggy with her mix puppy, a cute little male. Everyone was fascinated with the mother and her sleek appearance.
What interested Lisa was the fact that Italian Greyhounds don't shed! They do, but an Iggy's hair is so short it is hard to see.
As time passed, the kids and I became more and more convinced Mom needed a new companion. Remembering Lisa's interest in the Italian Greyhound at PetSmart, I did some research on the breed. It sounded like a perfect fit for my wife.
The kids agreed with me and so we went through the "vetting process" to adopt an Italian Greyhound from the local Iggy Rescue. After being approved, we had to finally tell Lisa what her Christmas present would be that year. She was less than thrilled.
Things got worse as each Iggy that was brought by to see if she liked it did nothing to get her to warm up to the idea of a new little companion. Finally, with Christmas Day looming, a beautiful fawn colored male became available in the Dallas area. No problem except we live in the Greater Houston Area.
We made the drive to Dallas, spent the night in a hotel, and met with Berkeley's foster mom in her home. At this point Lisa just wanted to go back home and was willing to take Berkeley with her just to return home.
Berkeley had other plans in mind for Lisa. Taking and immediate liking to Lisa, Berkeley ran around his foster mom's house barking and taking running leaps into Lisa's lap. When pausing to catch his breath, Berkeley would "kiss" Lisa's ears, all to the delight of Berk's foster mom. She informed Lisa Berkeley had never warmed up to any other potential adopters, so if Lisa wanted to adopt him, Berkeley was all hers.
Our youngest daughter Emily was with us and just loved Berkeley's playful attitude and was all for adopting him on the spot. I just wanted to get what was seeming to become more and more of a bad idea with each passing day behind us before my wife put her foot down and said no to adopting another dog.
Lisa, mainly wanting to return home, stated if Emily liked Berkeley, we would keep him, so the deal was done.
Half-way home, with Berkeley riding in his crate, Emily announced she need to have a bathroom stop. Pulling over to a rest area, I took Emily while Lisa walked Berkeley. Upon our return, Emily and I climbed into our family van with Berkeley while Lisa used the lady's room.
Berkeley was preparing to enter phase two of his plan to snare his new Mom's heart. Refusing to go back in his crate, Berk settled down in the passenger seat to wait for Lisa's return.
None to happy to see Berkeley out of his crate as she climbed into her seat, Berkeley slipped into Lisa's lap, rolled over on his back and began to rub his cheek on my wife's chest. It took that little con artist all of three seconds for Lisa to decide Berkeley needed to be held instead of riding the rest of the way home in the crate.
As we drove down Interstate 45, I glanced over with a little concern at my new competition I had inadvertently arranged for my wife to adopt. Berkeley was resting comfortably in Lisa's lap and glanced over in my direction and it was at that moment I realized we were in the presence of a master con artist. I will forever believe that Iggy winked at me!
Late that night, after introducing Berkeley to our two other mixed breed dogs, one of whom laid down the various laws according to Nardy, the alpha of our trio, it was time for all the weary humans, dogs and an Iggy to go to sleep.
Lisa had already announced Berkeley could sleep on the floor or in his crate. She had no intentions of allowing the rumored habit of Iggies sleeping with their humans take root. It made little difference to her that Nardy slept on the end of our bed and Angel slept under the bed, Berkeley would not have the luxury of sleeping anywhere near our bed.
It was then that Berkeley revealed his true mastery of the art of conning a human into doing what he wanted. Within two minutes of the lights being turned out, Berkeley quietly climbed on to our bed, slowly walked up to my wife, and politely tapped her twice on her shoulder. Lisa rolled over only to see Berkeley's tail vanish under the blankets as he emitted the most pathetic sound I have heard coming from a dog.
With in seconds Momma's new baby was curled up and getting hugged and petted by his helpless victim, my wife. As Lisa carefully got comfortable again, Berkeley rested comfortably with his head on her pillow, all warm and snug under the blankets. Once again that dog looked over at me, and winked, this time with a big smile on his face.
My poor wife never had a chance.
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