By Jaclyn Partin
Andrea Dailey, Fort Worth senior, let a new companion into her life and added a lot of responsibilities when she got a puppy last May.
A medium height girl with light brown and blond hair, Andrea had wanted a puppy, but her parents would not let her have one while living with them. So, when she moved to Nacogdoches to attend SFA, Andrea decided she wanted a puppy.
Andrea's parents still didn't think she could accept the responsibility of having a dog, but she knew she wanted one. Going out to a house in Appleby, she finally picked out her puppy. There was a Labrador retriever and a blue heeler that had both had a litter of puppies by an Australian shepherd male. With close to 20 puppies running around, it was a hard decision to make. Andrea picked one of the blue heeler Australian shepherd mixes, a white male with a little bit of brown.
After taking him home, Andrea had to give this puppy special attention for several days, as she said, "He had fleas all over him. You could see them squirming around all over the place." Just from the number of puppies all around outside where she had gotten him, the dogs couldn't all be kept clean.
Andrea named the new puppy Earl. "City of Angels is my favorite movie, and the dog on there is named Earl," Andrea said. She also attributes part of his name to the fact that she got him in East Texas, and that it happens to be a pretty common name.
Andrea feels that she has just slightly experienced motherhood since she got Earl. "I have to get up and take him out in the middle of the night," she said. She also has had to work on training him. Like any puppy, he still likes to tear things up every once in a while.
Once after Andrea's parents kept Earl, her mother told her he needed to be better trained. "My mom told me to call and see how much obedience classes cost and to call her back. After I told her, she said to tell Earl Merry Christmas." Earl just graduated from obedience school last week.
Andrea is looking toward the end of the summer when she will move in with her older brother and his roommate. They already have two dogs: a pit bull and a husky puppy.
Andrea has been to stay with her brother with Earl before. "Earl has already met the pit bull and they played really well," Andrea said. She just hopes that having three dogs in one house is not too much for the roommates, or Earl.
