In December of 2013, a classmate of mine said she had two puppies but could only keep one. “No, I’m in an apartment and can’t afford the deposit.” I said with determination. She spent the next 4 hours in my ear, showing me pictures of these poor small puppies. After class I agreed to see them. I was still saying no, but who was I to deny a puppy scratches. When we got to her house; she took me to them and my heart instantly melted. We sat there talking and playing with them for probably an hour.

By 11:00pm I was secretly sold, but I wasn’t going to let her in on it yet. I had work at 8 in the morning and I still had a 20 -30 minute drive home. So I casually said, “which one do you want?” Knowing that between the two were a little boy and a little girl. One daughter was already enough, and I needed a favorite son, so I knew which one i would pick. After she picked the little girl, named bonnie I packed the boy who was named Clyde. The little 4 pond, full of attitude, pooch was on his way home.

Boy oh boy, what in the hell was I going to do now.

My apartment was a unique layout, where the stairs leading up to the apartment were inside. When I got home with him I wasn’t sure what I was going to do that night or the next day while I was at work. I didn’t have anything for him except a Ziploc of puppy food and a soft-sided pet carrier. After attempting to put him in the carrier for the night and him crying barking and almost howling for an hour. I knew that wasn’t going to work. I put him in bed with me to sleep and the next day I put him in the bathroom while I was at work.

Over the weekend, I took him to the pet store. We picked out all the necessities; Food, treats, harness, collar, lease, sweater, puppy training pads, a bigger hard side kennel and toys. We had to get toys. I’d also decided that Clyde just didn’t fit him for a name. Plus I have an uncle named Clyde…. and this dog was not a cantankerous old fart. I was trying to come up with one that would be right for him but I was having no luck. So… I called the expert.

With Kylea on the phone, we started going through names that might work for him. Between me and Kylea on speaker phone, we came up with a slew of names, There were a lot of looks of dismissal from him and several looks of stink eye that I hadn’t seen since my kids graduated high school. He was running around the room and playing with his favorite toy Blue the elephant during this conversation, ignoring us in true male fashion. When we got to the name Stitch he came sliding around the corner of the couch giving me the look of WHAAT??? I knew that was his name.

Fast Forward 6 years, we gave up on the kennel and only put him in a room by himself when we have to. He has become a bed/blanket hog but he is a great protector and friend. Now that we live with my mom, he has a new job. He keeps an eye on her, if she is gone from his sight for too long he will go looking for her. He also will go into her room after I leave for work to check on her. She has woken to find him laying on her bed watching her sleep.