Photo courtesy of Staasi Heropoulos
Our dog Scotty passed away around Christmas 2024 and after a sad and subdued holiday, we looked for another pup. My daughter, Emily, found Nick’s online profile.
He was 2 months old and being fostered in Mississippi. We don’t know his backstory, but mixed-breed pups in the south rarely come happily into the world.
In his profile picture, he sat with a pleading look on his face; I try not to imagine what led him to the humanitarians that rescued him.
Many families wanted Nick, but we were chosen to be his forever home. We picked him up in a retail parking lot.
Nick and more than a dozen other rescues spent two days and a night in crates stacked side by side and up to the ceiling of a large van that transported them from Mississippi.
Each crate had the name of its occupant. All of the dogs were barking wildly. One waited quietly. The name on that crate was Nick.
The driver handed Nick to me, and I squatted to greet him; he hopped up, put his paws on my chest and stared into my eyes, which were flooded with tears.
I was overcome with joy; but the day before, I was overwrought with guilt.
Was it too soon to love another dog? Scotty had died two months earlier and I felt so disloyal to him. It was my mother who said I could honor Scotty and give new life to Nick.
When we brought Nick home, we showed him his toy box. It wasn’t long before he brought me a toy and wanted to play.
He came with no quirks or signs he had a horrible entry to this world. He was ready to forget it all.
When he met Emily, he wagged his tail and rose on his haunches so she could pet him. He licked her face, as if to say, thank you for finding me. Since then, he has been a joy beyond joys.
When he meets an older person, he stands quietly, letting them tousle his hair and rub his ears. When he sees a toddler, he sits still, letting the boy or girl pet him.
Nick is a muscular 70 pounds, but when he sees a smaller dog, he crouches on all four paws and remains calm, so he doesn’t scare the little dogs.
He loves all people and dogs and finds the best even among those who behave badly. One dog tried to attack him on a playdate. To this day, Nick stops and still wants to play when he walks by the house, as if to give the dog another chance.
One time we were walking and a Great Dane thundered through the brush, lunging at Nick. I yelled at the dog and scared it away.
Nick looked at me unafraid, wondering what had just happened. It was as though he found violence among dogs to be inconceivable.
On that same walk, we entered a field where a woman was throwing a ball for her fur-friend. She invited Nick to play; he grabbed the toy and darted off with it in his mouth.
When the other dog couldn’t catch him, Nick stopped and jerked his head forward — tossing the ball to the other dog so he could have a chance to run with it.
These stories just scratch the surface of why it has been a miraculous first year with Nick.
Staasi Heropoulos has been a journalist in Western Massachusetts for more than 20 years. Reminder Publishing is pleased to offer his website-exclusive stories and observations.
Staasi Heropoulos has been a broadcast and print journalist as well as a corporate communications practitioner, in Western Mass. and internationally for more than 40 years. He loves writing feature articles on local people and places but also welcomes story ideas about corporate and government malfeasance. Staasi can be reached at Staasi.Heropoulos@gmail.com.
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