T GAMBLE: Patience with ‘Chester’ is rewarded

I have a small wood-frame house in the country where my in-laws stay when they are in town from Pennsylvania. Otherwise, except for an occasional guest, the home is empty. I may go weeks at a time without going by there, but last week I needed to stop in for just a minute to check on a couple of things.

The home has a small front porch, and as I arrived I thought I saw movement on the porch. Probably a possum or maybe a raccoon, I thought. But when I saw more clearly, I realized it was a small black, white and brown dog, about 25 pounds. He looked like a corgi, with a long body, big head and ears, but quite handsome. He appeared frightened, anxious and lost. He cowered in the corner of the porch, staring intently at me as I drew closer to him.

At this point you must know I thought, ‘What low-life SOB dumped a poor dog off in the country and how do they always know to dump them around me? I need another animal about as much as I need to see another commercial for My Pillow.”

I sat in a chair beside the corner and tried to coax the dog to me. Anytime I got within about 2 feet, he showed his teeth and stuck his face out toward me. I am a big animal lover, but I also like my face with two eyes, a nose and most of my teeth. I did not push the issue. I got some dry dog food and left it on the porch.

Later I returned with a few large strips of leftover roast beef. He returned to the corner, having not touched his dry dog food. I sat back in the chair. He resumed showing his teeth and acting like Nancy Pelosi at a Donald Trump rally. I held the meat out to him and he hungrily took it from my hand. His nose brushed my hand several times, as I exchanged the roast with him, but once the roast was gone, so was his reasonable behavior. He went right back to growling.

I don’t know why, but I decided to name him Chester. Chester seemed like a fine name, but why I named a dog that has obviously never heard “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” I’ll never know.

For several days, I brought Chester meat snacks. Each day he took them, and then resumed the growling after he’d finished eating. I thought he was just scared, but then again maybe he got dumped off because he was just mean as the Devil.

Finally, last Friday night, I brought the whole family to witness Chester as I fed him a plate of leftover barbecue. There we were, me, the wife, the Hurricane boy and the Princess. They all sat in chairs a little ways away and laughed as Chester growled after he ate all I had to offer. I thought I could tame the beast, but it looked like maybe this one just was too tough to tame. Maybe I should have named him Talladega.

We were about to leave when I said, “Let me try one last thing.” I took an old fleece dog bed I put on the porch for him and moved it right beside him. I then slowly lowered myself on to the bed in a prone position. My loving wife said, “I’m not taking you to the emergency room when he bites you. You better get your (you know what) up off that bed.”

The dog got real low and stuck him head out forward as he almost belly-crawled toward me. This was shaping up to not be my finest moment. And then, the dog leaped on to my stomach and began to roll around, whining and groaning as I petted him all over. It was if he said, “My God, I’ve been waiting for someone to touch me for weeks.” I petted him profusely, then he ran over to each family member and got all over them. It was the most miraculous transformation I have ever seen.

I soon discovered Chester was a she and not a he. Her name was changed to Chestnut by the kids. One miracle had occurred, but another was about to unfold. I took the dog by to let my mother see her since I had been discussing the fact the dog was left at my house and I did not need it. She took one look and said, “He can stay with us as soon as I get the fence fixed from the storm damage.” I had not intended to give the dog to my parents, but you can believe I immediately said OK.

Soon Chestnut will be at her permanent home. I could not help but think she was much like people are many times. We build up such defenses because of past wrongs done that we can’t even see when someone is truly trying to help. If we could just let our guard down sometimes we might find out there is a porch full of folks waiting to pet us.

Email T Gamble at [email protected].