Story #37: The dog who started it all
Told by Breda Marshall, Adopter
Our First Family Dog
In the mid 1990s, when I was in high school, my parents adopted a black cocker spaniel named Seamus. He was our very first family dog, and from the moment he came home, he belonged to all of us. He did not have to try to be special. He just was. Almost instantly, he became everyone’s best friend.
We taught him all the classic tricks. He learned how to give hugs, shake, and roll over, and he did it all with so much pride. Seamus loved being included and was happiest when he was right in the middle of whatever was happening.
He was never just a pet.
Seamus was part of every memory.
One Halloween, my sister dressed up as Dorothy, and Seamus proudly played Toto.
We loved dressing him up, and at one point, my middle school brother even made him a jean vest that said, “Bad to the Bone.” My brother is now 39, and we still give him a hard time about that vest every single time Seamus comes up. Some things never get old.
As Seamus got older, he developed a few warts that had to be removed.
With his shaved head and jagged little scars, we lovingly started calling him Frankendog. He never seemed to mind. He was just happy to be with his people, exactly as he was.
Seamus loved chasing birds and squirrels and greeting everyone he met with pure joy. He was playful, gentle, and endlessly friendly. Unfortunately, he also loved chasing cars, which is how he crossed the Rainbow Bridge at just ten years old. Losing him was devastating. He was our first family dog, and saying goodbye felt impossible.
Years later, we discovered something that made us laugh and cry at the same time.
Almost everyone in my family had Seamus’s name worked into their passwords somehow. Even after he was gone, he was still woven into our everyday lives.
We have all adopted dogs since Seamus, and while we love them deeply, we still compare them to him. He set the bar high. Because of him, I have always loved cocker spaniels. I adopted one of my own who lived to be fifteen. My parents have had four cocker spaniels since Seamus, and none of them have ever quite lived up to him, which we say with a lot of love and laughter.
Seamus was our first adoption, and he showed us what it means to bring a shelter dog into your life.
He shaped how we love animals, how we grieve them, and how we remember them.
His story is a reminder that adopting a dog can change a family forever. There are so many dogs out there waiting for their people, each with the potential to become someone’s Seamus.|
Stories like his are why adoption matters and why those connections stay with us long after the goodbye.
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