A Little Dog Named Nibbles

To be honest, I don’t remember all the events and conversations that lead to it. I have little flashes of memories here and there. I remember meeting our property manager at Five Guys to negotiate the terms. I remember searching for her with no luck. And I remember the day we found her. I sometimes wish I could trace all the memories back to the beginning. Where was the initial spark? Perhaps it was the summer before when my first dog passed away while I was studying abroad. Maybe it was the forceful college dorms that disallowed dogs for my first two years of college. I cannot in honesty tell you the origin story and it’s probably not that interesting anyway. The moral of the story is that almost 5 years ago something really cool happened.

Before we get to that, there are a couple of other stories that need to be told first. Once upon a time, there was this silly dog named Nibbles. She was a white-brown bulldog/pointer mix, full of energy, and crazy. She belonged to a nice family somewhere in the Atlanta area. We’ll probably never get the full story, but we assume they got her from the shelter as a mere puppy. However, a year later, whether it was due to allergies or fear for the young ones because of her wild nature, they returned her. As sad as it is, it opened an opportunity. That opportunity soon became urgent when hurricane Harvey hit Houston hard. The Atlanta Humane Society began bringing in stray dogs to help Texas, but they needed people to adopt asap!

That’s where we came in! We were just a small on-campus ministry with some kids that wanted a pup. We had 4 residents at the time, though 2 of them had no idea we were getting a dog. They knew we were trying to negotiate it, but the day we brought her home, they had no idea, lol.

It took some time, but we finally negotiated the terms to allow a dog to live at WCF! Woohoo! I don’t recall the specific terms. Something like under 50 or 60 lbs, no aggressive breeds, clean up after them, no loud barking, etc etc. All the typical things. My roommate and I signed the agreement and ran off to the shelter.

It was a labor day weekend so we knew this was the perfect time to introduce a new pup. We walked into that shelter and lemme tell you, it was one of those love at first sight kind of things. There was Nibbles (terrible name) standing there staring at us with a tennis ball in her mouth. She never did get that ball back. We played with her in that room most shelters have so you can “try out” the dog you’re interested in. She was perfect! She just wanted love, wanted to be pet, would chase the ball around a little, but seemed to be pretty chill! Best of all, she didn’t make a noise! No bark or whine, it was great! We snatched her up and went home!

Soon that quiet, calm little pooch named Nibbles became a wild creature named Lucy. Her name was not the only thing we renamed that day, though. See, we lived on Georgia Tech’s campus. If you know nothing about football in the state of Georgia, the rival of Georgia Tech is a team called the Georgia Bulldogs. We could not have a bulldog mix living on campus, that would be absurd! So Lucy became a boxer/pointer mix, which is what we tell people to this day!

It was awesome! We had a dog! We surprised our other two roommates and began to enjoy what we figured would be the greatest idea ever!

Lucy was quick to prove us wrong. That first month became one of the most stressful months of my college life!

Lucy, see, is a trickster. Or maybe just shy. Who knows. When she first meets you she remains a calm, quiet, attention hog. Once she calms down, though, you realize she is loud, stressed out, and a bully.

Before Lucy arrived, we lived in a quiet little home on a busy street. After we got Lucy, we lived in a non-stop barking, panic house...still on a busy street. We had a glass door where Lucy liked to sit and bark at every single car that drove by. Remember it was a busy street.

She also liked barking when she was left alone in my room. She also hated laying down on any hardwood floor, which was everything we had. She eventually found a couch she could sleep on at night, giving us peace between the hours of 11 pm and 6 am. Lucy tormented us, tested us, and made us hate everything. She broke us all down slow and steady. It was almost like she was begging to go back. Gloating in our faces that we had a 1 month, no questions asked, return policy on her.

It was tempting.

But we pushed on. She didn’t get much better, but we learned to love her anyway. Truth be told, it wasn't that hard to love her. For every bark she gave, she met you with an equal amount of sweetness, cuteness, or silly behavior. We learned she loves to chase the soccer ball around the house, if it was cold she would snuggle with me in bed (sometimes kicking me off my own pillow), and she had the sweetest expressions for every occasion! All in all, college is stressful for a lot of people, and we learned it is no different for a dog.

However, fast forward almost 5 years, and my wife and I couldn’t imagine life without her! She has a little puppy brother now and I can’t imagine his life without her either! When he’s scared, he runs to snuggle with her. Lucy is still not much for the snuggles...unless it’s on her terms. But she puts up with it for little Merlin.

They are the best little playmates, though! They play rough, but they love each other, keep each other company, and live the happiest little lives. Lucy barks a lot less now. There are no glass doors to stare out, and we don’t live on a busy street. She sleeps most days now because we have a lot more carpet and couches to choose from. Lucy is a happy pup and we are so thankful we didn’t return her to the shelter! No matter how "terrible" a dog is, patience and investment will make it worth it in the end! Seeing those happy little faces every time you come home is worth it! Trust me.

She still lives up to her original name, Nibbles. She never tears a blanket to shreds like her little brother, Merlin would. Instead, she nibbles enough small holes in them so we give them to her for keeps. She sleeps with about 4 blankets now.