Please indulge me with this one. Luke was the first dog I ever had on my own, and I know I’ll be mentioning him often…so it only makes sense that he gets a proper introduction. Plus, it’s fun to think back through all my memories of him.
I adopted Luke from the county shelter when he was about a year old. He’d been picked up as a stray and had obviously been living outside for a while, but we have no idea what his situation was in the first year of his life. He came to me fully housebroken, but with zero understanding of basic commands, which is an odd combination that still makes me wonder what his early days were like.
Luke wasn’t a perfect dog (obviously). He destroyed more than his share of shoes, earned a reputation as a champion humper at doggy daycare, and terrorized my poor cat Sydney. Oh, and he was scared of walking up stairs or on my kitchen floor, and I never knew why.
But despite all that, he was such a good boy. He loved to let kids climb all over him, he followed me all over the house (no trip to the bathroom was ever private), and he loved to go on long walks and adventures.
He would do anything for a treat, so he turned out to be easy to train. I often joke that Luke tricked me into thinking I was a great dog trainer. Subsequent dogs (looking at you, Scout and Pepper) have proved that I am at best a mediocre dog trainer who had an amazing first dog.
Luke lived to the ripe old age of 15 before we made the difficult decision to say goodbye almost two years ago. But he still makes me smile when I think of him, which is a reminder of how lucky we are to share our lives with dogs in all their glorious, unpredictable forms.
I’d love to feature your dog’s story next! Submit your pup to be our Dog of the Week and help celebrate all the weird and wonderful pups we love.
If you enjoyed learning about Luke, you'll love meeting Axel and Ranger! Read their stories and many more in our Dog of the Week series.
And if you believe, as I do, that every mutt is one of a kind, take a peek at our Barktionary collection, featuring dictionary-style definitions of our favorite breeds. Luke, like every mutt, was 100% unique; 0% predictable.
