I first saw Beck in our local Park's dog run being walked by someone from a nearby rescue group. I remember the exact spot where he was standing when he caught my eye. Beck was a character & I learned had been returned twice by adopters to the city animal shelter before the rescue got him out. I was not in a position to immediately adopt him but started volunteering with the rescue & taking him out for longer and longer periods.
A couple of months went by & then one night my daughter said "what time are you taking him back"; she still remembers me turning and saying "he's NEVER going back". So for nearly 16 years this "mixed nut mutt" was my "buddy boy", "bubba ringo", "monkey bear". He tested me for a while with his antics but I remember turning & looking him straight in the eyes & saying "you can try whatever you want, you are NEVER going back" - somehow he then KNEW he was my forever boy.
Beck slowed down in his last two years & then in March 2018 I knew it was time to let him go. I miss him every day, he was the "shelter dog" I had always envisioned having. I just had a dog bone plaque with Beck's name added to the "memorial tree" in our dog park - it stands only a couple of feet from where I first spotted him in 2002. There was only one Beck but I continue to volunteer with shelter dogs & not unexpectedly, I am drawn to the bigger, hard to place "characters". How lucky I was to find my forever boy.
New York, NY
