Juan’s Pet Dog by Rev. Murray Peer

Once upon a time there was a little boy names Juan who had no pets. Juan wished so much that he had a puppy of his very own. But his family could not afford to buy a puppy. And in his country, there was no place where you could adopt a puppy.

On his way to school Juan had to go past a pet store. He would often stop to look into the pet store window. The puppies were so cute, and they looked lonely. Sometimes the store owner would place a little sign next to a puppy that said, “Please take me home.” But also next to each puppy was another little sign that gave the price of each puppy.

Juan would try to think of ways that he might earn the money to buy a puppy. He knew that for the amount of money he could earn it would take him a long time to save the money to buy any of those puppies. He also knew that if he would have a puppy, he would need the money to buy puppy food.

Two doors away from the pet store was a small house that appeared as though no one lived there. However, one day as Juan was passing by that small house, an old man was sitting on a rocker on the front porch. He called out to Juan and asked him to come closer to his house. When Juan came over, the old man said, “Sonny, I see you looking in the pet store window wishing you had one of those puppies. I have a small dog and, as you can see, I am very old. I cannot take care of my dog the way he should be taken care of. Some day when you have time, I would like to meet your Mama. If it is okay with her, I would like you to come to my house a couple days a week and play with my little dog.”

Juan was so excited he ran home to tell his mother. “Mama, mama,” Juan called, “there is a man in a small house who would like me to play with his dog. “Can I, Mama? Please, Mama.”

“Juan,” Mama said, “You are talking so fast I cannot understand what you are saying.” When Juan got his breath, he took his time and explained to Mama about the old man with the little dog. Mama said, “Well, I would have to meet him first. Tomorrow is Saturday. We can go tomorrow and meet the man and his dog.”

Saturday morning Juan was up early. He was so excited about him and Mama meeting the man and his dog. As soon as he and Mama finished breakfast, they went to the small house. The old man invited them in. Juan said, “I am Juan and this is my Mama.” The old man said, “I am Mr. Martinez and this is my dog, Fidel.” Fidel was a black poodle. Mr. Martinez continued, “I am getting too old to play with Fidel. He needs someone to play with him and I thought that Juan could come over a couple of days a week after school and play with Fidel. They could play inside or out in the back yard.” Mama thought it would be okay and a good way for Juan to learn how to take care of animals, so the following Monday after school Juan stopped at Mr. Martinez house to play with Fidel.

Juan went to play with Fidel every Monday and Thursday after school for two hours. This continued for several weeks. At the same time, Juan was learning a lot about taking care of animals. Juan learned that there were some things that dogs can not eat or it could hurt them. Juan was also learning how much dog food to give to a dog and not to feed them too much. Juan was learning a lot of responsibility. But at the same time, Juan was having fun.

One day when Juan arrived at the Martinez home, Mr. Martinez seemed very upset. Juan asked Mr. Martinez what was wrong. Mr. Martinez explained that he had to go into the hospital for surgery and asked Juan if he thought his Mama would allow him to take Fidel to their house.

When Juan got home, he told his Mama about Mr. Martinez needing surgery and asked if it would be okay to bring Fidel to their house. Mama said, “Well tomorrow is Saturday. We can go over to Mr. Martinez house and talk about it.”

The next morning Mama and Juan went to Mr. Martinez house. He invited them in and explained that on Monday he would be going to the hospital for two days and asked if they could take Fidel to their house. Mama said it would be okay but asked Mr. Martinez about the dog food. Mr. Martinez had just gone to the pet store that morning and bought a new bag of dog food and said they could take it to their house. He also said that in the cookie jar on the shelf was a small amount of money they could use if they needed to buy more dog food or anything else for Fidel.

Juan was so excited. He carried the bag of dog food and Mama took Fidel on the leash and took him to their house. Over the next couple of days Juan also learned that he had to take Fidel for a walk every day. Juan did not mind. He walked Fidel every day.

The following Wednesday after school Juan stopped at the Martinez house to see if Mr. Martinez had returned home from the hospital. When no one answered the door, Juan went home and told Mama. Mama said, “Then let’s take Fidel to the hospital and see if we can take him in to see Mr. Martinez.”

Mr. Martinez was so excited to see Fidel, Juan and Mama. But then he told them the news, that he would not be able to return home but was going to a nursing home. He said if they could keep Fidel as their own pet, they could go to his house and get Fidel’s doggie bed and the cookie jar with the extra money. But they had to promise to bring Fidel to see him once in a while.

That is the story of how Juan got his very own pet dog.