Hope After Divorce by Jennifer Cummings Ph.D & Lisa LaBelle & Amy Osmond Cook Ph.D

Author:Jennifer Cummings, Ph.D & Lisa LaBelle & Amy Osmond Cook, Ph.D
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Many Hats Media, Inc.
Published: 2011-08-16T00:00:00+00:00

17

Saving Bruce

My husband took our son Jack to see some golden retriever puppies that were ready for adoption. Jack sprawled out on the kitchen floor with the pups for a couple of hours, letting each pup crawl all around him, until finally he bonded to the little runt. The first night in our home, the puppy wouldn’t eat. We weren’t overly alarmed at the time; but by the second night, it was obvious something was not right. My husband took him back to the family we bought him from. Sure enough, he was ill, as were several of the other pups. Within three weeks, several of the puppies died.

This was just another disappointment to contend with. Our son no longer wanted a dog. He no longer wanted anyone or anything in his life that could cause him more pain. He was angry, depressed, and difficult to deal with. To make matters worse, it was about this time our rocky marriage began to crumble. For several months, our home seemed to sit under a dark cloud. I was hopeful that my husband and I could come out of this latest marital crisis as we had previously throughout our twenty-plus years. I held tightly to that hope. Our older three children were grown and had begun their independent lives elsewhere. Our youngest son was the only one home to witness the shattering of our marriage.

Surprisingly, Jack called me at work one day and announced he had found “his” dog. He said he knew this was the one that belonged with him. Jack asked me to come and help with the paperwork so he could bring the dog home. He sounded more chipper than he had in months. I wasn’t sure it was a good idea with the circumstances at home. But this was suddenly so important to him, I was willing to keep an open mind.

I drove up to the pound, and Jack was in the parking lot playing with the dog. The dog was a Labrador and Akita mix. He was large, even at 4 months, and had a beautiful black coat with massive white paws. He was going to be put to sleep the next day, and my son was certain he needed to save the dog’s life. Jack had already chosen a name before my arrival: Bruce, after Bruce Wayne, Batman’s alter ego. It was destiny that Bruce would become our own canine superhero. I was so overwhelmed to see my son’s face filled with joy that I couldn’t say no to him. We brought Bruce home.

We didn’t have a fence on our property, but Bruce gladly stayed near our house even when we weren’t home. When we were home, he was a house dog. Even as a pup, Bruce was fairly passive and rarely barked. As he grew up, he became even more passive and loving. Bruce loved his walks, loved to run, and loved to be outside. But when

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