When Rosie passed away in June after a full life of 16 years, my wife Susan wasn’t terribly anxious to get a new dog. But after three dogs covering 46 years of living here in Plainview, the house felt awfully empty without Rosie, so we would up adopting a “rescue dog” in July.
Kirby is about 1 year-old, fully trained, with about as pleasant a disposition as you can imagine. Yeah, he gets a bit wild at times, flying up and down the stairs between our living room and the den below, but all in all he has been a great addition to our family. It’s hard to imagine why he was simply abandoned on the streets by whoever previously owned him. Our gain.
We found Kirby through Ruff House Rescue in Freeport, where some very dedicated animal lovers are doing an amazing job of finding homes for unwanted dogs. They did a background check on us, as they do with all prospective adopters, and we took our new buddy back to his new Plainview home.
Kirby has since made lots of new friends as we walked him up and down Sylvia Lane and Warren Place, and he has spent some quality time chilling out at my office at the Greater Long Island Running Club and, of course at Petco in Syosset (where he had an interesting introduction to a ferret). He also participated with my wife at the Dog Walk at the Old Bethpage Village Restoration in August, and of course, has visited with my daughter and our grandkids in Old Bethpage.
You may be beginning to wonder where this is going, and I’m not sure that it was originally intended to “go” anywhere. But I guess it’s a plug for getting a dog as a companion and, if you do so, to think about a “rescue dog.” Bambi, OJ, Rosie and now Kirby have been an important part of our lives for 46 years. A dog will give you unquestioning loyalty, unbridled affection and a few good laughs every now and then. Your children, on the other hand…
—Mike Polansky
