Arthur - the beginning

With heavy heart that he is gone and we are still here - I feel compelled to put all of this in print so that someday when I cant remember all the details personally - someone will be able to read it to me. So here goes -"Arthur The Beginning"

Dooley Arthur Burns was born September 19, 2004 - he was one of six English bulldog puppies that J&J Bulldogs had for sale. I began to correspond with Ms. Judy, who has become my friend over the years, about purchasing one - after multiple visits to her website - I had picked out the one that I wanted - His name was Chubby. He was cute, fat, and lovable - everything that I wanted in a bulldog and more.

Darryl and I took a Saturday in early November to visit J&J and play with the puppies. All of them were so excited to see us - we meet all their dogs - including the parents of this litter JJ and Patti Labelle - we fell in love right there with the breed - even more so than we thought that we could. Judy let the puppies out of the pin into the viewing area and they all came running toward us except one - he decided to find something to get into - a rug to chew on - he had attitude. As I sat there holding and loving on Chubby - Darryl was fascinated with this little terror that was attacking a rug that was much larger than him....

From that very moment, Dooley (as Judy had named him) became a part of our family. No second glances - no changing his mind - no looking back - Darryl had found his boy. Darryl had found the DOG who would never know that he was a dog.

With eager anticipation, Arthur came to live with us right before Christmas in 2004. Now Ashley had already graduated from high school and was in her freshman year in college. Lex was in his freshman year at MHS. Neither one of them had much time for talking with mom anymore - they were busy. Darryl and I had only been married a couple of years and they did not spend much time with him either. Arthur arrived and everything changed. Suddenly all four of us were together quite often playing, hugging, loving this new four legged creature that would call our house - HOME.

Little did we know at the time what an impact this bulldog would have on our lives. We did not know that he would be the vessel that the Lord would use to mold us into a family. That he would be the tool that would make our house a home.

Thank you Lord for letting us love on him for the few years that he was on this earth. We will be eternally grateful for our time with him. How fitting an end to his life that on the day he died, we all needed to be together again in the same room as a family - Arthur would have loved it!