Cardinal, the stray dog that showed up at the Jones household in 2024.
Who let the dog out?
Me-Me-Me-Me-Me.
With apologies to Baha Men for paraphrasing their hit song from 2000, every morning no later than 7:15 the yellow Lab that wandered onto our porch nearly 19 months ago is let out of her indoor kennel to do what dogs do each morning before woofing down breakfast.
Every morning. Not some mornings. Every morning. Neither rain nor snow nor the early darkness of winter can keep a dog from its appointed morning rounds.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. As a retiree, I was supposed to stay up late watching games being played on the west coast, then sleep until mid-morning, maybe noon.
That all changed in September 2024 when this dog walked a mile down from the intersection, passing several houses along the way, before deciding that the last house on the road was the one for her.
Yes, dogs really do pick you.
When she walked up, her tail was wagging, happy to see humans, begging to be petted. Her ribs were showing and she was hungry. What are you supposed to do? We fed her. She knew then that she had found her home. We weren’t convinced.
Her name is Cardinal. Not Cardi nor Cardi B nor Cardi C nor any other letter of the alphabet.
She is named for the Cardinals, which was the Elizabethtown Dixie Youth Baseball minor league team I coached for 14 years. I don’t recall the schedule calling for the Giants to play the Cardis. It was Giants vs. Cardinals.
I vowed back then that if I ever had a pet that I would name it Cardinal after the baseball team.
To be blunt, my wife and I didn’t want a pet nor the responsibility that came with it. We are retired, our son is grown and out of the house and we can — or could — come and go as we pleased.
As retired ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast, my friend.”
After prancing up the driveway that September morning, Cardinal had made the side porch her home.
We checked around to see if anyone in our area was missing a beautiful, friendly yellow Lab. Nope. We asked if anyone was interested in adopting the dog. We would gladly pay for her to be spayed, given a health checkup by the vet and, heck, I’d even throw in a 45-pound bag of food. No takers. Calling Animal Control wasn’t an option. So, within a couple of days we had gone from empty nesters to pet owners.
Tragedy struck about six weeks later. Dogs love to chase cars. Cardinal finally caught one and it shattered her right front leg. A speedy nighttime trip to the 24-hour emergency vet in Wilmington followed by a quick return trip to the local vet for care. Fortunately, there were no internal injuries, but her leg had to be amputated.
It felt like we had utterly failed her as pet owners.
Fortunately, Cardinal adjusted quickly to being a tripod. She runs as fast as ever, climbs steps easily, loves chasing balls and getting belly rubs and is living her best life. You would like it if it was your life. I’m jealous it’s not my life. She doesn’t even realize she is missing a front leg.
Funny how things work out. We have changed from cringing at the thought of owning a dog to feeling blessed that Cardinal had made that long walk and decided our house would be her home. She’s part of the family now and, hopefully, for several years to come. We wouldn’t know what to do without her. She brings so much joy and happiness to our little corner of the world.
Well, time for a nap. It will soon be morning. Who will let the dog out? Me-Me-Me-Me-Me.
Sonny Jones can be reached at [email protected].