Figment of My Imagination

Chicken Soup for the Soul: What I Learned from the Dog

BY: Kristine Byron

I think the next best thing to solving a problem is finding some humor in it.
~Frank A. Clark

We were forever reminding our teenage daughter to keep the patio gate closed.

One Friday morning as I was returning from my walk, my husband was waiting in front of our home with a worried look on his face. Figment, our dog, was missing! The gate was left open and Fig was now roaming freely.

My husband had to leave for work and although I also had to work that day I had some time to begin the search. Unfortunately we had never taken the time to order a name tag for Fig... we always took such good care of him... and he was always with us -- on or off the leash!

Figment was a Springer Spaniel/Australian Shepherd mix. He was champagne in color with one blue eye and one brown eye. We taught him all the dog tricks that make a dog entertaining, respectful and obedient.

I exhausted my search and finally had to leave for work. My intention was to stop at the animal shelter on the way home, hoping that someone would have found him and taken him there for pickup. We live in a hillside community near a freeway. I prayed all day that he would avoid that direction!

I reached the animal shelter just as they were closing and was taken to the dog kennel -- soooo many precious pets with no identification. No way to contact their owner to come and rescue them. As I walked the aisle I approached one of the kennels... there was Fig, I thought! He was soooo excited... they were all excited! I looked closely and saw that this dog had two brown eyes. It couldn't be Fig. Where was the blue eye? I still held out hope so I said "sit"... every dog sat!

I left the kennel depressed and worried. We were facing the weekend and the kennel was only open a few hours on Saturday and closed on Sunday. Where was my dog?

Saturday I had a prior commitment and was unable to get to the shelter, so my husband assured me he would leave work early and stop on his way home. He arrived at the shelter as the woman in charge closed the window and locked the doors. She told him to come back Monday! WOW!

After a very depressing weekend I stopped by the shelter on Monday. There was the same dog... my dog??? Two brown eyes!!!! Again, I said "sit." Again, everyone sat! I said, "speak" and I had a chorus going all at once! I left... leaving behind a dog that had to be thinking, "What more does she want, I did everything she asked!"

I went home and called a friend to go by on Tuesday and check for me. I needed a fresh opinion! My husband assured me that it could not be our dog if he did not have one blue eye and one brown eye. Our dog would soon be on death row!
Our friend did go by on Tuesday but I would not find out what he thought until I got home and could listen to my messages. On my way home from work I picked up our daughter from school and took her directly to the shelter. "I will wait in the car," I told her. "You go in and tell me what you think."

A few minutes later, our daughter came running out of the shelter yelling, "That's our dog!" I said, "What about the eye?" She said, "Forget the eye, that's Fig!"

We paid the fees, brought a very distraught and relieved dog outside into the sunlight... AND HIS EYE TURNED BLUE! Bless the sun!

At home I listened to my messages and there was one from our friend, "Nope, it isn't Fig; he has two brown eyes!"

Lessons learned... Always have an identification tag on your pet. Always keep your gates closed when pets are outside. And, never, never get me mad or I won't recognize you!

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