Hot Dog Freshman
By Shanna, age 17, California
As we all know, this coming week is the most sizzling, mouth watering, heart wrenching day of my life - my first day as an official high school graduate and freshman in college. I know, exciting, right? My journey into college.
During orientation, which was kind of scary, I met so many wonderful people who will help me on my journey through college, also-known-as "the start of my new life". It made me realize this was the wake up call of my life. I'm not a kid anymore. I'm an adult, and it feels so good. All through my walk-through in my new home (aka college campus), a little dog followed our group. As startling as it was to see a little bag of fur no bigger than the size of my purse barking at our crowd while following closely behind, we continued on unaffected by the little rodent.
Once we came to the side of the school overlooking the ocean, as we all stood in awe, we heard something - sort of a fart, which came from the dog. We all broke out into laughter and decided who should keep the dog once we split up for a break. My new buddy Julissa and I decided it would be our responsibility. It was one hot dog of a college day to keep a dog. His new name became "Marley", whom he reminded me so much of. He had a little brown coat which was very fluffy considering it was a cocka-poo (cocker spaniel and poodle mix). These are very expensive dogs and rarely seen in this color.
Later on that day we decided to take him to a vet, which made me understand why this dog was alone. He was crazy once we got inside the building. I had never been inside a vet's office before, so, like I'd seen on TV, we chose comfortable spots and began settling down. I don't know if Marley was psychic or what, but with all the strength he could muster he raced straight for the door, dragging me along with him kicking and screaming. The only thought which came to my head was, hot dog, I'm not in high school anymore - I'm getting old!
I stood up with all sorts of pet dander and dust from every inch of that floor in my hair and on my clothes, dusted myself off, and walked toward the door where Marley stood cooped up in the corner barking at the door and chasing his leash. As I reached in to grab him he jumped at my face, and his paws stuck to the ponytail in my hair which already hung halfway off my head. He snatched at a downward angle, sending me crashing to the floor, hair all in my face, seeing nothing but brown, while he scampered to the back of the vet's office behind some forbidden door.
Laughing and angry, I stood up and once more dusted myself off and began walking when I crashed into a veterinarian with Marley on the leash angrily coming at me. She brushed past me and announced that whoever owns this dog may be needed to take ownership and control their dog who had knocked over a trash can and was eating away at an old hot dog in the trash and getting pudding paw prints all over the floor.
Embarrassed, Julissa took Marley and followed closely behind the vet who demanded we see what a mess Marley had made. We were then dismissed, having to leave Marley there.
Later that day, as we came back for our new pup, we found he had been put asleep. He had chronic arthritis and heartworm which made his life span very short. Clearly upset and hurt we returned to our dorms in silence.
As crazy of a dog as he was, and given how short the time was that we had him, "Marley" made my college experience fun, and he will always be remembered for that. He was one hot dog of a pup.
