[Dailydrool] Happy birthday to my boy!

[Cheryl Stafford]

April 17th will be Otter's 5th birthday.  He was our first ever puppy.  
I had no idea what to expect or even how to raise a puppy.  He was born 
exactly two days after our boy Dreyfuss died unexpectedly.  I didn't 
think I was going to recover from that loss.  I woke up that morning and 
went to get in the shower and found my boy.  He had passed sometime 
during the night.  We had been battling an ear infection/food allergy 
but other than that there was nothing wrong with him.  The vet wanted to 
find out what caused his passing but I couldn't do that to him.  So we 
laid our boy to rest and I proceeded to fall apart for the next three 
months.  I cried all the time.
My sweet husband set about on the search to find someone to help mend 
our hearts.  He found these wonderful people who had a litter of puppies 
and after talking with each other numerous times and meeting they picked 
the absolutely perfect puppy for us.  They were calling him "duck puppy" 
because of the white duck on his back.  They told us as soon as we 
picked his name to let them know and they would start calling him by the 
name so he'd learn it.  It took us two weeks to decide on his name.  
This puppy entered my life and stole my heart.  I sat for hours on the 
floor with him because he'd fallen to sleep in my lap and I didn't want 
to disturb him.  He has trained me well always getting what he wants 
when he wants it.  He has two sets of grandparents that think he is 
great too.  Of course he got his nose bent out of shape when we brought 
his brother home but he loves him now.  His sister, well, he loves her 
sometimes.  He still curls up in my lap every morning and every night 
falling fast asleep and I still won't disturb him!
I can go on and on, but I won't.  I just wanted everyone to know my baby 
is 5 today and I love him like crazy!!!!!    HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OTTER!
Cheryl
Otter, Radar and Mollie, the Bloodhound