By Kim J. Harmon

I never thought we had an empty space in our home.

With three kids, three cats, two gerbils and five schedules that never seemed to intersect or intertwine very smoothly, the thought of adding a new canine companion was almost always dismissed out of hand.

But, let’s face it, how much love can you get from a couple of gerbils or three cats who only deign to be petted when they felt like it?

None.

I think Ben was the first one to bring up the subject of a dog and soon that was taken up by Tyler and, then, my wife Becky. Me – yeah, I said, “Right, we’ll get a dog when these three cats finally run away from home.”

Yet, I did start checking around at the various shelters – halfheartedly, I admit – just to see if something would turn up. As I started looking, I remember the first dog my wife and I got, the day after we moved into our new home, and with memories of Calvin sifting around in my mind I quickly warmed to the idea of a new dog.

Still, I wasn’t poised to move any too soon – until I saw the picture of Nelson sent to me by Canine Advocates and the Newtown Pound for the Please Adopt Us! segment in The Newtown Bee. An American Staffordshire mix, Nelson was much smaller than our first dog (by about 60 pounds) and seemingly old enough that house training would not be a major issue.

Still …

I really wasn’t ready to move. My wife and I decided getting a new dog would make more sense in the summer, when someone would be home almost every day. But when Animal Control Officer Carolee Mason called and insisted I come down to meet Nelson, I acquiesced and went.

And the little stinker won me over, right away. He greeted me at the front gate with a furiously wagging tale and some ready kisses and I knew within 30 seconds I would be taking him home. Sure, I had to convince my wife and kids, but that proved far easier than anything else I ever tried to convince them to do.

Nelson – now named Rascal, for obvious reasons – insinuated himself into the family the very first day we brought him home. I never thought we had an empty space in our home, but there was and Rascal filled it perfectly.

Oh, Rascal has his warts – just like anyone. He is a bit stubborn when we are trying to get him to do something he doesn’t want to do. And his breath – due to circumstances earlier in his life – is a little, uh, smellier than usual. But he is friendly and loving and seems to be very happy. Okay, playing ball seems to confuse him a little but he loves to wrestle and would gladly ride around in our car or mini-van all day long if we let him and he also loves to curl up beside us on the couch while we watch television.

A more pleasant and friendly companion we couldn’t have hoped for and our family can’t be more thankful to our friends at the Newtown Pound and Canine Advocates.