Patton

For as long as I can remember, I've had my dog Patton by my side. He now reigns in New Jersey with a nice lady that volunteered to take him in when we couldn't bring him to Jordan. We heard that the vet care wasn't very good because of the theories they have on dogs, and we needed a good vet, for Patton had arthritis in his front two paws, and an enlarged heart. So when I was told the news, I was in tears. Patton had been with me through every move, and he was one thing that didn't change whenever everything else around me did. But moving him wasn't always easy, there were some set-backs and frustrations when we did. But no matter what, I wouldn't take any of it back, because the journey's were always more fun with him.

When we moved to New Jersey from Florida, we had Patton and two red-eared-sliders. Turtles that had to be kept in water. My dad was in training at D.C. for the slightly altered job, so my mom drove me, my two year old brother, a tank full of water with two turtles swimming around in it, and our huge dog up the Atlantic coast. It took a total of three days, and even though I had no idea what New Jersey would be like, I was relieved to get there.

But Patton wasn't just there for me when I moved he was there to make me laugh.

Whenever my mom was in the kitchen making lunch or dinner, Patton would stand right under her feet, (causing a lot of yelling and tripping) and stared at the ground. Why the ground? Well, he thought that food popped out from it, because when ever my mom dropped something off the counter, the ground was the first place he found it, so everyday, there was my dog, staring at the ground waiting for scraps.

He was the stubbornest dog on the planet, and he was strong too. If he jumped up on my bed, even though he's not allowed on it, I wouldn't even try to push him off, because it was useless, all the muscle he had was way to much for me, and if I managed to get him down, he would just jump right back up again. His stubborness is what I admired about him, we had it in common.

He was also a lap dog, a 60 pound one. He loved jumping up onto our laps, and he squashed me a million times. But the best part was that he wasn't even allowed on the furniture, so you could tell he had dreams, why not?

He also loved cats, but they didn't love him back. I mean, if you were a cat, and an English Bull Terrier completely made of muscle came charging up to you, you'd be pretty freaked out too, but poor Patton never realized that, and he never understood that cats didn't like him, because the next day, he'd be right back at it, trying to befriend them. Even after the ran away or scratched, he never learned his lesson. Stubborn doggy.



What I loved the most about him though, was that he didn't care about who you were, or what you did in the past. He'll love you anyways. I would pull his tail when I was younger, and climb all over him, but he had a huge amount of patience for me, and he never bit or ran away. He just let me do what I wanted.

I miss him so much now, we don't even now if he's still alive, he's old, he'll be 11 in June, and even though I know the day is coming, when he dies, it's going to break me in two. I feel horrible for not being there for him now, when he was always there for me in the past.

<3 Patton