I recently inherited a dog from my father-in-law who passed away.

Meet Khloe: She is a four year old Australian Shepherd. She is full of energy, sweet, friendly and loves belly scratches.

She is the last thing I wanted in my life right now.

See, I owned a dog when I was in my 20s. He was a stray Dalmatian Pitt mix. He went everywhere with my husband and me, and we spoiled him rotten.

When he died, I never wanted another dog again, I was so, so sad.

My husband and I were also moving around a lot, so we didn’t want the hassle of trying to find pet friendly apartments. Then, after my son was born, I knew I wouldn’t have time care for a dog along with the baby, my husband and myself.

Flash forward.

When our family was deciding who would take Khloe, all I could think to myself was: “I don’t want another thing to clean up after. I don’t want another thing taking up my time, which is already limited. I don’t want the responsibility of taking care of another being.”

Khloe has been bounced around from person to person since she was born. My father-in-law was her fourth or fifth owner. I just couldn’t do that to her again. Plus, my husband wanted her on the premise she would be good for my son, who is four now, and loves being with her.

So, we drove her nine hours from north Texas to Corpus. She only got away once during the trip, which was nerve-wracking as hell.

Khloe was used to living on a lake, running free all day. (And she is sooooo fast.) Now, she has to stay in our yard or in the house. She has had to learn to walk on a leash, which has been tough because she loves to chase cars and run up to kids and other dogs. But we are making progress: She hardly jerks my arm off anymore when a truck drives by and has learned to heel. Kind of.

She is getting better every day.

And so am I.

She lives for her walks, so I take her. I am getting exercise which I desperately needed. I have come to view our walks as me time, because I don’t have to talk to anyone, I leave my phone at home and I just enjoy being outside with her.

Khloe is by my side or my feet all the time. When she wants to be scratched or petted, she demands it, which in turn makes me slow down for a few minutes and be in the moment with her.

She loves me.

And even with the shedding and the pooping and the process of getting her leash trained and all the other headaches of owning a dog…

I have grown to love her too.

She is a connection to my father-in-law, whom I miss so much, and I want to make him proud by caring for her.

My heart is full and she will always be a part of our family.

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