Inspirational Short Story
How Otis Found Us

Here's an inspirational short story for you that is also a "stranger than fiction" true story that happened to us this past Christmas (2007).

To some this might seem almost unbelievable, but I can assure you that it is a super amazing Christmas story for real, with my daughter's greatest wish literally walking through our door two days before Christmas.

Some may say that this story has more to do with stumbling on happiness rather than it does with laying the groundwork for achieving what she wanted, but childrens prayers are often answered in mysterious ways, and this is one happiness story that I think will give you pause to think.

After this clear demonstration of "dog manifestation," I am fairly sure that there really is something to this whole "law of attraction" business! I think you will agree that this is is one truly inspirational short story.

Applying the Laws of Attraction?

First, I better give you some background... For the last year and a half, our ten- year-old daughter has been obsessed with pugs. She has saved up and bought pug notebooks, a pug Webkinz, several other plush pugs and was recently gifted with a pug purse, a plush pug Christmas stocking, and a messenger bag with pugs on it. She has begged us for a pug dog nearly every week since her obsession began over a year ago.

Many of you who frequent the Dog Paw Print website know that we already have two dogs that keep us pretty busy. We love having more than one dog, but going from two to three dogs seemed a bit extreme. My husband and I pretty much squashed these persistent requests for a pug. Two was the perfect number for us in terms of dogs. So it seemed.

But for Kayli, perseverance is the key that eventually worked on a few different levels. For her, the key to true happiness appeared to be a pug, and it was a pug that she was determined to have!

The first big thing she did was present us in July 2007 with a Christmas list. If you cannot guess, pugs featured prominently on the list. In fact, as you can see, she made sure to include "a pug" on every other line, just in case we happened to miss the obvious clues. To emphasize its importance, she gave us the Christmas list five months early.

Next, she changed the main part of her e-mail address to "puglover." We should have paid more attention. Kayli was becoming an expert in applying the laws of attraction. There was no question. She believed that she was going to get her pug.

Who would have thought that a billboard would end up being part of this inspirational short story?

Nearly every day that we drove home for school, we passed a certain billboard with a huge photo of a local realtor couple that have a pug , his name clearly labeled "Rocky" on the sign. Every time we passed it, Kayli would wave at the billboard and shout, "Hi, Rocky" to the cardboard pug.

Fast Forward to Christmas 2007...

We were ready to walk out the door to get Kayli to her Nutcracker Ballet costumes fitting. She would be busy all day, with an additional dress rehearsal and two ballet performances. She was chosen to dance in one of the childrens roles with the Moscow Ballet production of the Nutcracker.

Five minutes before our departure time, my husband walked upstairs and announced that a pug had wandered in to our garage. This Santa Claus story was coming to fruition, and I can assure you that we had nothing to do with it!

Of course our daughter was going crazy with excitement. This was her miracle match from the dog world. Could a pug really have come knocking at our very own door?

My husband and I decided to divide and conquer. He would drive our daughter to her all-day Nutcracker extravaganza, and I'd stay behind for the time being and try to get Rocky back to his family before the performances began.

I walked him to his home but no one was there, so I left a note on their front door. It was pretty urgent that I solve the problem soon, because I would need to join my husband in a short while to see the ballet performance our daughter was dancing in, and our current two dogs were a little upset that this small, stocky dog had barged into their happy home.

Miracle Match

I did not know the family's last name, so could not look it up in the phone book.

I noticed, however, that the family had a For Sale sign on the lawn. The only thing I could think of to do was to call the realtor and leave a message about the situation. I mentioned that even though our daughter was looking at this like it was the Christmas Miracle of the Pug, Rocky's family must be desperate to have him home, and we were going to be gone most of the day into the late evening. "Please have Rocky's family call us ASAP," I begged.

I was happy to get a call back from the realtor fairly quickly, who told me that the family was moving, and that they were actually looking for a good home for Rocky.

This was too strange. We didn't really want to take on a third dog, but how could we say no to this almost perfect example of serendipity. Our inspirational short story continues...

While Kayli rehearsed and danced, my husband and I decided that we would allow her to adopt Rocky, and make him our new family member.

We kept the secret until we got home late that night after her last performance was completed.

Stumbling on Happiness?

I'll never forget the look on Kayli's face when we started the long story about how my husband had been over to the family's house and that they were not going to be able to take Rocky with them when they moved.

"You mean we get to keep him?" she said, with her eyes full of hope. When we affirmed it, she burst into tears and literally sobbed tears of joy over the news.

It will be a moment I will always remember.

By the way, Kayli decided to change Rocky's name to Otis, named for the pug in the movie, The Adventures of Milo and Otis. He has fit in with us and the other dogs perfectly. We are really happy that "The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist Pug" turned out well for all concerned, and that he is now part of our "pack." For us, this inspirational short story was long on good feelings, and it also happens to be true.

So, I'll let you decide.... Do you think this is just an incidence of stumbling on happiness or something much more? For our daughter, true perseverance paid off in the end. She now can dress our pug up in silly costumes, and he doesn't even seem to mind. There seems to be instant devotion between the two of them, and certainly lots of love.
Some stories- even true ones- have great, happy endings; Don't they?

We hope you've enjoyed our inspirational short story, and hope you'll share some of your own dog-related stories if you get the chance. Just contact us on the Contact Form here and we'll be sure to get back in touch.