SOMEWHERE IN NEVERLAND

Wilee & Lux

I got my first most memorable dog at the age of six. He is a ginger-colored long haired chihuahua from a local breeder in my hometown. When my mom reluctantly took me to go see him, she told me “no means no, don’t throw a fit.” Unfortunately for her (at the time), the minute I met this 10-week-old runt of the litter that was originally named Zeus, I fell in love and the rest is history. Now he’s almost 14 (on April 8) and favors my mom over me (I definitely picked on him a lot, that’s what happens when you give a six-year-old a tiny dog). Because of his coloring and comical overbite, we named him Wilee after Wile E. Coyote from Looney Tunes, but oddly enough he gets mistaken for a baby fox more than a baby coyote like his namesake would indicate.

He had pretty much been the sole dog in our family from that point until my 15th birthday exactly. That birthday in particular, my mom received a text from my dad that just contained a photo of this small, homely shepherd puppy. Of course we had to go see it and upon arriving at my dad’s place of work he explained that one of his coworker’s wives found her on the street by our town bowling alley. Apparently, she had gone door to door and asked if the dog belonged to anyone but she wasn’t able to find who she belonged to until she was told by one person that a box of puppies was left in an alleyway two weeks beforehand. According to the vet, she was only about four weeks old at the point we found her meaning that she survived on her own for two weeks at two weeks old.

My dad left the decision to take her home up to my mom and I, but who couldn’t resist to take in a homeless four week old fluffy puppy? Deciding on a name for this pup took a bit longer than it took us to decide on Wilee—my family is not one that does conventional pet names. At the time, I was still utterly obsessed with One Direction and wanted to name her after one of the names mentioned in “Best Song Ever” but it didn’t suit her. We still landed on a One Direction related name, Lux, which happens to be the name of the band’s hairstylist’s daughter (yes, I know it’s cringey I know that. Please don’t judge me). But, to end it on the cheesy note, Lux also means “light” and quite frankly she’s brightened my life just a bit since we got her.

Editor’s Pick: “Best Song Ever” by One Direction