Of course she knew. I could have had him FedEx Express shipped and left on my door step or brought in on a magic flying carpet and that cat would know that I had somehow orchestrated the whole thing.

While I was very aware that my dog was, in fact, a dog and not a person, I still had to question how many teenage boys would just “stop” because of parental disapproval.

My sweet, obedient puppy had become a terrible creature I didn’t recognize. He had become a Teenager!

I taught Target about the car, about grandma and grandpa. We learned about the park, cookies, and about our friend Bob the dog across the lane.

It took a long time for me to put aside other people’s opinions of my dog, or what I was doing for him. Some days, people will still find my weak spot with him and I have to work at making sure their words don’t come before what I know to be the truth about my dog.

I would often say as he charged past me, trying to make the front and the back legs move in the same direction,

“Does he not understand that he was MY idea?”

I wanted the puppy’s name to be something similarly complicated and deep. Not only did I want to be able to tell stories about my puppy, I wanted him to be a story in himself.

In my absence, at my request, my puppy and my partner had chosen each other and to this day it still remains the best decision that they have ever made for me.

The dog at first was Target’s mom, who quietly gave birth to him a few towns over, surrounded by love, at the beginning of December. After that, the dog would be Target.  Unbeknownst to me, my life changed for the better that day in December and his impact on my life would inspire me forever.