Colonic Irritation!: How the Dog I Didn’t Think I Wanted, Saved My Life!

In October 2020, my daughter Simran, aged 20, presented a 16-slide deck on ＂why our family needs a dog.＂

The deck covered everything from ＂needing something to love other than Netflix＂ to how a dog would make us all walk and get healthy, as I was ＂looking more like Homer Simpson than Homer Simpson.＂

I was told that I was the last obstacle (her actual words) and I argued that I didn’t want a dog as it would become my dog, and I had already parented enough with her and her brother Kieran.

I was overruled and awaited my fate.

Two months later, just before Christmas, Milo arrived, and from the moment we met I knew I was in trouble. He somehow knew I was the weak link, so he made me his human. We should have named him Shadow, as that’s what he became to me.

A year later he started acting strangely around me, barking, softly clawing and licking my belly in a comforting way.

That was the moment the dog I didn’t think I wanted ended up saving my life . . .