Our new Pomeranian, Butterball, who came to live
with us on March 16, 2011, when he was 9 months old.
In February 2011, my family's beloved cat, the beautiful gray Miss Emily, died from cancer. In March, while we were still mourning Emily and not looking for another pet, our next-door neighbors offered my family one.
Our neighbors are a single mother who is a nurse and her teenage daughter. They moved here from South Korea, by way of the Bronx, in 2010. We enjoy their company, when we get to see them. The mother's schedule is crazy, changing around from the day shift to the night shift from time to time. And the daughter, who is about the age of our teenage son, is involved in lots of extracurricular activities. In other words, they're very busy people. Our teenage son has endeared himself to the mother, mowing her lawn in warm weather and clearing it of snow in the winter. The daughter is also friends with a couple of our son's male teenage friends in the neighborhood, so all of them frequently end up at our house for lots of shrieking during fiercely played video games.
At one point, our neighbors decided that they wanted a dog, so they bought a beautiful purebred Pomeranian puppy, whom they named Butterball. But they hadn't foreseen that with their schedules, they wouldn't be able to spend enough time with him. So in March 2011, when he was 9 months old, they asked our teenage son, who was at their home helping the mom trim bushes in the yard, whether our family would want Butterball, to give him the love and attention that he needs. Our son then walked home carrying this gorgeous little wriggling ball of friendliness, and our hearts melted. But we couldn't afford to buy Butterball, so my husband and I were going to say no. We were astonished, though, when our neighbors said that they wanted to give him to us at no cost, that he had had all of his shots, and that they were giving us all of the paperwork from their veterinarian. Besides, the mother said in her best Korean English, "We make good families together. We join together to help each other." They handed Butterball over to us with his paperwork, worming medication, a collar, a leash, and enough dog food to feed 5 Great Danes for 2 years.
Of course my husband, our teenage son, our elementary-school-age son, our adult daughter who visits us regularly along with her husband and daughter, and I have all fallen in love with our little eager-to-please cutie who never wants to be without at least one of us. And because both I and my husband are self-employed, Butterball is never without human companionship.
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Our new Pomeranian, Butterball, who came to live
with us on March 16, 2011, when he was 9 months old.
“I love the view from Mommy's shoulder.”
“So many people feet to meet!”
“I already kissed your hand. Time to kiss
someone else's!”
Laser eyes!
“Play? Wanna play? Huh? Huh?”
“So what if it's a baby swing! I like it.”
Click the image to watch the video Butterball Speaks (9.1 MB).
Click the image to watch the video Persistent Butterball (9.1 MB).