Meet Chance - My Best Friend

In 2006, Chance joined my little family. He was a year old and super awkward. I found a picture of him at my CO-OP group and immediately took his picture to my mom. I had been begging for a dog after we gave our lab, Shadow, to my uncle - for numerous reasons. When Mom saw the picture of Chance her eyes softened and I remember her saying, "Aw. He's cute!" My heart raced and I used very excuse in the book to sway her decision in letting us get him. Of course, she was stubborn and didn't give me an answer right away (that's just how my mother was). I walked the picture back to the front of the building sending a silent prayer up to God - begging Him as well - for this cute little Spaniel named Chance.

The next morning I woke up and came downstairs to Mom grinning her face off. I frowned, wondering what she was up to, and she told us to sit in the front room. Hardly containing herself, she said, "We're getting a dog!" I couldn't believe what I had just heard, so I didn't say anything. She looked at all of us - my three other siblings - waiting for a response. My brother, Tyler, looked at me, then back to Mom. Luke, who was only five at the time, was playing with his Power Rangers and Kaitlyn was doing something else. I honestly didn't believe her, not until the doorbell rang. I jumped up and ran to the door. Outside was a family of four, struggling to get a little golden pup to stop squirming. I'm pretty sure I squealed as I ran down the front yard toward the dog. I knelt down in the grass and called the pup over to me. He ran right up to me and kiss me on the cheek.

From that moment on, Chance was my dog and I was his mamma. Cocker Spaniels are "one-person" dogs. They choose one human and cling to them. In all of my breed studying I've never found another breed that clings like a Spaniel does. In fact, Spaniels have very bad separation anxiety. This is one hundred percent true in Chance. He does not like it when I leave, at all. He will scratch at the door, whine, bark and even eliminate on the floor because he's angry and overwhelmed. I've learned with Chance that I have to make a schedule for myself. If I'm not back at that certain time, he will have a panic attack. Literally. I've walked in the door during one of his panic attacks and it's not pretty. I'm going to spare the details for you. Anyway, back to his story!

I was home schooled for most of my school days, for numerous reasons. Mom didn't agree with the public school system and she was pretty sick. I stayed home and helped take care of her as she got bed-ridden. This is why I have such a close bond with Chance - we were together 24/7! He followed me everywhere I went. Up the stairs, down the stairs. He laid on my feet while I did school and looked up at me with pretty amber eyes while I ate. We shared a twin sized bed for a while too, until I got a queen sized mattress. Praise the Lord! I didn't have many friends growing up because I was home schooled and didn't have a car to go anywhere. I was home a lot and Chance kept me company. He was there when I cried and there when I had my first major crush. I told him all of my secrets and he never told a soul. I trusted him with everything and he trusted me.

In 2009 my mother passed away. Even though there were a lot of people around me, the one that comforted me the most was Chance. He seemed to know that I was extremely upset and he would come love on me. I was angry with the Lord for taking my mother away and I wanted nothing to do with Him. As weird as this may sound to people, Chance was and is a gift from the Lord. My dog was the only way I felt love during the hardest time in my life and I believe God used Chance to soften my heart again.

A few years later and a lot of healing time with God ended me up 700 miles away from my home in Ohio. The fall of 2011 was my first year of college in Kansas City attending the International House of Prayer University. I had to leave my best friend at home and it broke my heart. Of course, by this time I had warmed up to the idea of loving God again - I mean, duh, I was going to IHOP for school! During my first year I Skyped with Chance and talked to him on the phone, as lame as that is. I missed him horribly and had a really hard time without him. So, I decided that I was going to bring him to college with me the next year.

This past fall, in 2012, I started by second year of college with Chance right beside me! He rode in my grandpa's truck for seven hundred miles and did it like a champ! (Riding in a truck or car is his favorite thing to do!) I was so happy to have my best friend at college with me. Now, when I come home from a long day at school he's sitting at the door with his blue bone in his mouth and his cropped tail wagging. I know, no matter what happens, Chance will always be there for me. Though, there have been a few scary moments in the recent months where I thought he wouldn't be with me any longer. 

The pink band on his leg is where they put the IV in

During Christmas break, I was playing with Chance and all of a sudden I saw blood on the carpet. We were home in Ohio, close to the vet, and I decided to take him there. We discovered that he had a large tumor on his backside that had broken open and was bleeding. I learned that Spaniels - when they get older - develop little bumps or tumors on their skin. They usually break open and bleed, but the one that Chance had on his backside was very large and I was worried it would get infected when he used the bathroom. The vet, after looking Chance over, decided to operate and remove the tumor. The vet also removed a tumor on the top of Chance's head and above his eye. I was so nervous and scared! I didn't want my best friend to die during the operation and for some reason I thought he was going to. Yet, he didn't! Chance came out of the surgery just fine, though he was a tad bit shaken up and a little woozy from the medicine.

 Those next few days were really hard for us both. I had to constantly watch him to make sure he didn't tear the stitches out of his bottom. He was in a lot of pain too, so we had to give him pain medication. He slept so much during those few days after the surgery. We had to return to Kansas City a week after the operation, but he did a fantastic job riding twelve hours in the car with a sore backside! I was so proud of him. Ten days after that I had to take him to get his stitches removed and he did a great job with that too! I worried for no reason because Chance is back to his normal self.