“Please, mom, can we get the puppy?” we repeated over and over again. “We can use the money our grandparents gave us to help pay for the puppy.”
We had been standing there for 15 minutes looking at all the adorable puppies and kittens and begging mom and dad for one. Finally, dad broke the silence and, turning to mom, said, “It’s up to you.” After five long minutes, mom finally said yes. We happily took the three-month-old toy poodle and decided to name him Teddy. The following month was a busy one, with potty training, vaccines and getting used to the responsibilities of having a puppy.

Last week we decided that Teddy was finally ready to go on his first long walk, and it seemed like he really enjoyed it. At one point, I looked up and saw a big, beautiful dalmatian coming our way. She was considerably bigger than Teddy, who had never been around other dogs before. I was a bit nervous as the dog and her owner began to pass, then stopped when the owner saw the dogs trying to play with each other. Seeing that the dogs were entertained, the owner and my dad introduced themselves and talked for about 10 minutes.

Afterward, my family and I walked a little further until we reached a house that had been grabbing my mom’s interest. When my mom came back out, she told us that the woman renting the house was also interested in buying a dog. She was very friendly and introduced herself

After going around the lake, we decided it was time to go home. On the way, we met another dog and his owner. When we got home, we talked about what happened on our walk. We had just met three potential friends to connect with, and Teddy introduced us to all of them. Praise God. He used our dog to help us meet people we pass every day.

If I had known that puppies could help us meet people, I would have used this to convince my parents long ago!

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