It was the early summer of Nineteen Ninety-Seven

I was a young blond girl, nearing the end of age ten.

I wanted a puppy to take care of and give my love.

My brother was my pretend puppy for a while.

I had a robe sash “leash” on him and told him to go “ruff, ruff”

Needless to say, this did not cause my mom or my brother to smile.

But I wanted a real live dog so I scanned every daily classified ad.

We looked at Shi Tzu puppies but we didn’t much care for those.

Then was an ad for Shetland Sheepdogs/Sheltie puppies found by my dad.

Dad and I drove out to the country to look at the four week old pups.

Three were mostly black like their mother, Rascal, but not the one I chose.

She was mostly brown like her father, Rowdy; so small now … just little lumps.

We could not take her home yet until another two weeks when she was six weeks old.

I was so excited, I could not stop dreaming of playing with her and taking her to talent shows

I planned on teaching her a multitude of tricks and her doing everything that she is told.

We even got a deal one her too since he was sable and not tri-colored like the rest.

But being the cheapest puppy did not mean she wouldn’t be the best.

After the monetary item and the doll from the 1960s, she became Penny Brite.

So small at six weeks, watching her crawl under the coffee table was quite a sight.

She slept in my room and I took her outside teaching her to use the grass as her toilet

I was diligent in cleaning up, pooper scooper ready, even as her business was still wet.

She learned very fast, barely having any accidents in the house at all

Penny loved to play; she was good at playing fetch with her favorite ball.

We also played hide and go seek where we would both start off in the garage and I would leave her in and close the  door

And I would run and try to find a place to hide fast as Penny would leave the other way finding me and eager for more.

The summer flew by fast and soon it was time for me to go back to school and finish Heart River with the sixth grade

Little Penny did not understand and howled like a coyote as I left and she stared – looking for her Ashley – waiting to see.

And return I did every morning through the back door walking home and all of Penny’s sadness would fade.

One day, Penny slipped out the backyard and without me knowing, went to the school to find me.

What a surprise that was to be in the schoolyard and my puppy coming toward the playground

There she found me among all my friends spinning each other on the merry-go-round.

I scooped her up in my arms, took her back home,  and told her not to follow me anymore

I promised her that I would always come home to play with her after I was done with my school day.

Every day at about 3 pm, I would rush home and Penny would always be waiting excitedly by the door.

Little by little, her snout grew longer, markings changed, and her hair was no longer short like back in May.