Through the winter and early spring of 2020, I had been looking at Dakota on the AWS website. She was in foster care with four new puppies. Then, when her picture was gone, I assumed she had been adopted. In February and March of that year Covid was getting its wheels and things were starting to shut down. I saw that Dakota’s picture was back up on the AWS website, and I was starting to wonder about her. She had such a goofy underbite looking up at the camera.
The Right Time
My wife Julie and I were in Florida for business and I worked a couple of weeks at Boston Red Sox Spring Training. By the time we returned home, Covid had blown up into a full-blown pandemic. Julie and I were on conference calls at the same time with our jobs. Her travel had been suspended indefinitely and the Minor League Baseball Season was canceled, so Julie asked me what I thought about getting a dog.
I took out my phone, accessed the AWS website, pulled up Dakota’s photo and asked… “What about this dog?” So I called and set up an appointment for that afternoon. We went down and met Dakota and took her for a walk and then put her in our car and took her home. AWS folks been looking for us since.
Dakota fit right in with Julie and I. She was described as low energy and has lived up to that claim. Dakota is totally chill. She would rather sleep on the couch, the floor, the porch, the grass… anywhere – then do anything else. Dakota loves car rides and has been up and down the east coast several times with us. She enjoys our time at the lake and loves boat rides and sitting at the front of my kayak. Dakota simply loves being included.
A Special Happy Home
Since April of 2021, Dakota has been the Assistant Clubhouse Manager for the Portland Sea Dogs, though lacking opposable thumbs and the motivation required, she is of little actual assistance. But we love her anyway. She loves the players, coaches and staff, and they love her. Dakota loves nothing more than the attention she gets from all the baseball folks who are generous with belly and ear scratchies.
Dakota has had her belly scratched by many big leaguers, including Dustin Pedroia, Chris Sale and Roger Clemens. This year, she was given some great face time on the Netflix documentary; “Clubhouse: A Year with the Red Sox. Of course, she was taking a nap on the couch the whole time. Dakota does have a very empathetic nature. When young baseball players are struggling, she has a way getting in close to help take some of the edge off of frustrated, angry and disappointed players. Dakota misses them when they are gone for the winter, and so very happy when they return in the Spring.
We love Dakota and are very happy we found her at the AWS!
