We were still heavily grieving our loss when a client appears with this tiny little fur ball at our office. I tried multiple times to have Sam take the puppy back, and all Sam said, was he will help the pain. It was friday and Sam said, keep him for the weekend. he will help you overcome your grief of losing Spooky. I thought; I don't want to forget about Spooky. Too much sorrow to deal with. At the time, I had 2 other clients watching me communicate with Sam over not wanting this little puppy yet. I also felt selfish that I would dare take another puppy now to fill the void of losing Spooky. Sam's final comments before he left this puppy with us, was: You need to give this little guy all the love and affection you gave Spooky. Spooky would want this.

So this little guy laid on the reception room floor and slept. Along come 5:30-6pm and Brian would show up and start his ritual of tidying up the rooms, taking out the trash and cleaning the restrooms.

Now up to this point Brian was never allowed to have a pet as a child. His mother forbid it; even flushed his goldfish down the toilet. I, always having dogs and pets, wanted Brian to experience having a little 4 legged friend.

I was always a firm believer that every boy should have a dog. I watched through my life see how puppies, later to become dogs, influenced all boys i knew that had dogs in there young lives. I saw boys show all that love and affection towards there 4 legged friends, and then saw these boys turn into great loving husbands and fathers. Every boy should have a dog growing up. The bond and the love of a pet continues to grow as an adult male, and the love and affection continues into marriage and raising his children.

Back to the clinic. Brian shows up and as he is entering the clinic, he sees this little flash of something running across the floor. As he enters he sees this furry, fluff ball playing in the reception area. His first words was NO! No way was he even going to consider a new puppy. He was still grieving heavily. Spooky was his first ever dog and their bond was incredible. He felt the selfishness overcome him. It's not right. We just lost Spooky and he wasn't interested in another dog. Brian insisted that we aren't going to get another dog now. I told him what Sam had said and if he didn't want to keep him after the weekend, Sam would take him back. He continued to say NO WAY.

Now image this scene. Brian starts his nightly routine. Going from room to room, cleaning up and gathering the trash in over 13 rooms. All of a sudden, this little golden retriever puppy walks up to the first room. Sitting in the doorway, he watches Brian cleaning the room. Never moves, just stares at Brian as he cleans. Never says anything. We notice this from the lobby and continue to watch these beautiful, precious moments.

Brian finishes up in the first room and comes out and goes to the next room. Guess who follows and just sits at the door opening and does nothing but stare at Brian as he works. This continues throughout all 13 plus rooms.

Seeing this puppy's reactions to Brian, was screaming out; Hi my new Daddy. Seeing the admiration and pure love in this little guy's being as Brian worked from room to room, patiently sitting at each door entrance, and just watching every move Brian made without as much of a peep or movement.

When Brian finishes, he comes to the front of the clinic and has the puppy following him. Brian again shares his feelings of not being ready for another pet. It's TOO early, was his response.

I continued to explain that Sam loved dogs and truly loved Spooky, who had been at the clinic everyday since being diagnosed with cancer. Sam would bring treats and toys for Spooky. When Spooky passed, Sam wanted us to cherish another dog like we did with Spooky. Sam as one of his many careers, had a couple pet stores.

While we were grieving from the loss of spooky, Sam told us to come out to his Elyria Ohio store and say hi. Shortly after Spooky's passing, we were out buying small memorial items to help commemorate Spooky's life. We ended up at the Elyria mall and Sam's pet store. Sam wasn't there so we just looked around and came across this cage of puppy's. Behold, a golden retriever puppy that had puppy's piled up on him and he just laid there loving it. We said how cute, and left. Later, we find out when Sam shows up with this puppy at our clinic, the puppy was the same golden puppy at his store. Was this fate? Was this a sign? How could this have happened out of the blue.

Back at the clinic when Brian met our new little puppy, I was able to convince Brian, that lets take him for the weekend, it will help with our pain and sorrow. if he didn't want him after the weekend, I would take the puppy and crate back to Sam.

On the way home, Brian and i talked about not having any food for the puppy. Brian stops at a Pets plus in Medina Ohio, as I wait in the car with the puppy. About 20 minutes later or so, Brian comes back to the car. I asked what took so long. Brian's response was He was shopping for the puppy. Here Brian had just purchased some food, a new bowl for food and water, a lease and a beautiful blue (sky blue) puppy collar. At this moment, I knew this little love ball wasn't leaving our lives.

Just before bedtime, the puppy laid on Spooky's bed and fell asleep. The next morning, bright and early this precious little puppy wakes me up and I take him outside and he goes pee pee. Unbelievable. Already trained. it was pure instinct from this little guy. Coming from Championship parents, we knew we had a prize puppy.

We decided to call him Pumpkin. His coat was the color of pumpkin and it just seemed fitting and right to call him Pumpkin. In the 11 and 3/4 years we had him, Pumpkin never went potty in the house since the first day. From that day, our journey of his life started and was full of reward.He was our SPECIAL ANGEL.

Visit Pumpkins Life Journey and Story on www.PumpkinForever.net