The story of a girl and her puppy obsession

When I was 8, my parents surprised us with a Westie puppy for Christmas. I can still remember my excitement when I saw her tiny little white body being carried towards us as we sat by the Christmas tree.

I cried.

My excitement turned into an Elmira from Looney Toons type obsession over the next few months. I just wanted to hug her and squeeze her 24/7 but at first, she did not return the affection.

In fact, she wanted nothing to do with me. I was convinced she hated me but I didn’t care. I would chase her around and force her to let me love her as she tried to bite my face off.

I’d make treat trails to my room and when she fell for it, I would close the door behind me and get her on my bed.

I envisioned snuggling her under the covers until she finally succumbed to my love and we would be best friends.

But it never worked out that way. Instead, she would sit as far away from me as possible on my bed or she would sit by my bedroom door with big bug eyes and that look that said “get me the heck out of this room you crazy person”.

Eventually, I realized that if I wanted her to like me, I had to leave her alone.

So that’s what I did.

And finally, she started to warm up. She would voluntarily sit next to me on the couch and I would try my hardest not to pet the hell out of her.

She would sit on the steps looking out the little window that we named “Pivas Window” and watch us get on the bus.

She would come into my room and sit on my bed in the mornings when I was sleeping. It was more so because I had the best view in the house to see all the activity out the front window but still, I didn’t care.

She was there. Laying on my bed. With me.

Piva and I played this game for 17 years. 17 years of me holding in all of this love out of respect for her. 17 years of letting her decide when it was ok for me to show her my affection and when it was acceptable for me to unleash it on her.

Sometimes we don’t get the snuggly, kissy, follow me everywhere puppy we always dreamed of but they all have a way of showing us their love one way or another.

This westie puppy is Fiddich, he’s the opposite of Piva. He followed his owner everywhere and was exploding with his love obsession for her!