Furry Roommates!

By Tamarah Lawrence

High school came to an end and I thought my chances of getting a dog were over, because I would be going off to college and I wouldn’t be able to keep my promise to my mom to take care of a dog. But we finally got a dog last summer. Every time I see our mascot, Nicholas the greyhound, I think of my dog Max and how much I wish he could live with me on campus. Once you have been living with your dog and you go to college it’s not the same, I feel as if my other half is missing.

High school came to an end and I thought my chances of getting a dog were over, because I would be going off to college and I wouldn’t be able to keep my promise to my mom to take care of a dog. But we finally got a dog last summer. Every time I see our mascot, Nicholas the greyhound, I think of my dog Max and how much I wish he could live with me on campus. Once you have been living with your dog and you go to college it’s not the same, I feel as if my other half is missing.

Dogs are warm, friendly, sweet, loving, caring, dependable, loveable, and the list could go on. They are there to greet you with a wet nose when you walk in the door or a lick on the face to wake you in the morning. They can fill your life with purpose, joy and meaning. I am an avid dog lover, especially of my new puppy Max! I think about what it would be like to experience living with a dog on campus all the time. Nicholas lives on campus with Father Nash, so why can’t Maxwell live on campus with me?

As students we pay to live on campus and aside from some of the incoming freshmen, everyone else lives in an apartment. So why can’t we just pay an extra fee that will allow our dogs to live with us? There is a similar concept when you rent an apartment. Some apartments allow people to have dogs within a certain weight limit for an additional monthly fee. I wonder how allowing dogs on campus will alter the atmosphere of the school.

Anyway, when I was four years old my mom bought me my first dog, a keeshond, that I named Sparky, from Speed Racer (http://www.youtube.com/) an old show from Cartoon Network. Although Sparky was a puppy when I first got him, he grew into a pretty big dog that loved to jump on me, so I became afraid of him. Because I was terrified of him, my mom gave him to a keeshond rescue. I still remember the day they came to get Sparky, he didn’t want to leave. At times I wonder how different my life would have been if we had kept Sparky.  I am no longer afraid of dogs, now I absolutely love them!

All throughout high school, I begged my mom to get me a dog. I made promises that I would take care of him, and how she wouldn’t have to do anything at all. I would feed him and take him on walks in the morning before school and then again when I came home after school. I begged and pleaded, I would try to sway her decision by showing her the cutest pictures of the most irresistible puppies, but still her answer was no.

Katelyn Napoli was my suitemate freshmen year. Katie was my inspiration to get Max because of how she would constantly talk about her Bichon Frise Mickey. How cool would it be to have Mickey and Max as roommates!     

Mickey is a Bichon Frise, the adorable all white heart throb. All Katie did was talk about how much she missed him and how she wanted to squeeze him. She told me how Mickey learned to bark because her dad would bark at him. Listening to Mickey 24/7 led me on a new path to discover the Bichon Frise breed.

I started to tell my mother about Katie’s dog Mickey and this time she seemed interested in getting a dog. One day while I was looking for Bichon Frises to buy online at http://www.nextdaypets.com/directory/dogs/30d21f36-3fb1.aspx, I came across a cute little fellow named Korker and fell in love. We bought Korker from Susie out in Missouri and she shipped him to us within that week!

Korker now goes by the name of Max and when he hears me say his name, his ears perk up and his tail wags. He keeps a smile on my face 24/7 even though we are miles apart. He came to us in July and I had to go back to school in September so I only had about 2 months to bond with him and I did just that. When I first got him he was so scared, but all I did was hold him and pet him all day for two days and then he loosened up.

Now when I come home from school every once in a while he gets so excited that he can’t contain himself. One time my mom picked me up from the airport, Max was in the back seat in his crate, I opened the door to hold him and he peed all on my hand! He also peed on the screen door when I honked the horn.

Max can sense when I’m not feeling good or if something is wrong. I will never forget when I had a migraine so I took some medicine and took Max in my room with me. We laid in the dark on my bed and he started licking my face right where the pain was throbbing. Although I was in excruciating pain he made me feel better. Sometimes when you’re not feeling well you want your parents around, but they can’t be there if you’re away at college. But if your dog could live with you on campus, they could comfort you just as much as your parents could.

I am learning to cope with not having Max following my every move. My mother sends me weekly updates on Max, she tells me how he is doing, how his training classes are going. Sometimes I call to talk to my mom and hear him barking in the background, I smile every time I hear him. She sends me pictures that he actually poses for; by the way he is definitely on his model status. My mom puts me on speaker phone so I can talk to him and he looks around for me and wags his tail.

I wonder what college life would be like if Max joined me in Southwell. He would probably come in handy cheering me up when school has caused me to have a bad day and I could sure use him.