Danny and Andrew
Hello fans, It’s me Danny the Dog again and today I think it’s high time I told you about how my human and I met. His name is Andrew. I found him eleven years ago down in Miami. Nowadays we live on a boat in Fort Lauderdale, but I’m originally from Miami. Andrew, as far as I know, has always lived in Fort Lauderdale.
I was six months old and I wanted to go out and see the world. I wasn’t getting any younger and the lure of the road called to me. So one day when no one was looking, I just took off. At first, I had a grand time. I’d sniff my way down one street and then the down the next. I met up with a few other dogs, chased a few cars and thought to myself that that was the life. But after a day or so, I started to get hungry, and unlike the home I had left, the humans I ran into had no desire to feed me. I did get into a few garbage cans, but the pickings were slim.
Then on the third day, I’m running down the street and a white pickup truck stops and this guy gets out and talks to me. I forget exactly what he said, but it was something along the line of buying me a hamburger. So naturally, I jumped into the truck and off we went. About now, you are all thinking that the person was Andrew, well you are all wrong. The guy’s name was Don.
He took me to McDonalds and bought me two hamburgers. Then we went to his house and I stayed with him. I had tired of being on the road. It was nice to be fed every day, and to be loved wasn’t bad either. The only down side was that Don kept calling me George.
Now this is where Andrew comes into the picture. About three times a week Andrew would drive down to Miami to do some business, Don was a friend of his, and they’d get together for lunch whenever they could. So about a week after I found Don, he took me to breakfast where he met up with Andrew. We were introduced; Andrew and I, and the three of us had drive-thru McMuffins. Whatever they are, but they were good.
While we were driving back to Andrew’s car Don said, “I can’t take care of George anymore. I’m going to take him to the Humane Society this morning.” He was? That came as a surprise to me! I thought he liked me, but as you will shortly see there were bigger things happening here, cosmic things.
Then Andrew spoke up, “Look, I live almost across the street from the Fort Lauderdale Humane Society, I’ll take the dog in for you and save you a trip.” So I was put in Andrew’s car and away we went. It’s about a twenty-minute ride from where we left Don to the Humane Society.
As we exited the highway, Andrew turned to me and said, “It looks like I’m stuck with you. I just can’t drop you off to be put in a cage.” I figured that’s what he would do because I gave him a few licks during the ride up, and I tried to look both pitiful and cute at the same time. That ain’t easy, you try it sometime.
When we got to the boat, Andrew told me that he once had a dog named George, so I would need a new name. Hey, I don’t care what you call me; just don’t call me late for dinner! At first, he said he was going to name me Don, but then he changed it to Danny. My full name is Daniel J. Daniels.
Now here is where things get weird. A week later Don was dead. I don’t know if he knew he was going to die or if some cosmic force had him turn me over to Andrew. But here I am living on a boat with my human. He’s not really a bad sort, though it was a chore to get him trained just right. But it’s been worth it. Every morning after I take him for a walk he gives me a hotdog. What dog could ask for anything more? Well, there just one other thing. He loves me, and damn it, I love him.
Post Script: Below you will find a picture of me right after I found Andrew. I was a pretty good looking dog in my youth, if I do say so myself.