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Chapter 6 is here and so is Nova! But he's not really Nova, he's Goliath. He's Goliath and he's not interested in being Nova or participating in any Nova related activities. Had we made a huge mistake?

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Chapter 6 - Goliath

This wouldn’t be the first time we would meet Nova. Unbeknownst to us at the time, we had met him a month earlier when Danielle’s parents were visiting. I had asked Lynda if we could come out with them to see Charesse and to see the puppies that Lynda was keeping as well. These were just excuses to play with puppies, of course but Lynda kindly agreed. Upon our arrival we were introduced to Giarni and Gogo, the two girls, and Goliath, the boy. 

Yup. Goliath. 

Typically the puppies each get assigned a uniquely coloured collar. You then get the yellow puppy, the red puppy, and so on for prospective owners to choose from. This way when they go to their new homes the new owner can name them what they please. The fact that Lynda had given these three proper names told us that she was going to keep them after all and, to be honest, I wasn’t that upset about it. 

The truth is that Goliath didn’t exactly leap out to greet us. I had this image of a litter of puppies all competing for my attention; a pile of cuteness and fur all yipping and bounding towards me. Then one climbs above the rest, literally crawling over his littermates in a show of determination and strength to give me a nuzzle as if to say “Hey Dad, it’s me, Nova!”. I take him home and we go on adventures - the best of friends as ever there were! 

Goliath wandered over, in his own time, and was happy enough to get some pats from the big stranger and his petite blonde partner, but then just wandered away back to the corner. Giarni and Gogo were still leaping around, vying for our attention, while Goliath just sat in the corner. There he would hang his tongue out of one side of his mouth, then the other side, then back again to the first, all the while staring out into the middle distance. He wasn’t a Nova. If anything, he was a Boat Ramp. 

This was all in the back of my mind as we drove out to Lynda’s that January afternoon. 

The excitement was so overwhelming though that the back of my mind might as well have been the dark side of the moon. Excitement and nervousness. After Danielle and I decided to jump on this puppy I had talked to Lynda and she had assured me that she would have everything we would need to take him home that day. That made me feel a little better but what did we know about owning a dog? How were we going to keep this thing alive? We had waited so long but there, at the end of it all, I felt like I just needed a little more time. 

I remember thinking to myself what many of you are probably thinking right now: “Are you fucking kidding me?”. 

Right. Deep breaths. 

We arrived at Lynda’s and her gate was closed. We passed the time waiting outside by grabbing the camera and getting some photos of Dani in front of the sign to remember the day. Finally the gate opened and Lynda greeted us with her usual enthusiasm and big smile. She invited us into the courtyard and quickly disappeared out the back to fetch Goliath. Dani and I tried to act casual but neither of us could take our eyes off that back gate for more than a few seconds.

Lynda came back with the furriest, fluffiest, cutest little puppy you’ve ever seen. I say little but seeing her struggle to keep him up with one arm under his big butt and the other wrapped around his chest made me realise exactly why she named him Goliath. He was massive. A puppy, for sure, but like someone had taken a normal puppy and then stretched it out in photoshop. Or photocopied it at 150%. 

We talked business briefly and I settled up our bill which included food, a dog bed, toys, a brush, flea/tick meds, and more. Lynda left no stone unturned to ensure we had everything we would need. We then made the mistake of getting Lynda talking and spent the next 10 minutes discussing new-dog ownership. What to do, what not to do, what to expect, the challenges we would face. These were all things we needed to know and all things we wanted to know but it felt like an impossible task to properly pay attention when all we wanted to do was get our hands on that puppy! 

After what felt like an eternity she walked us to the front gate. 

Outside, Lynda picked him up again and he assailed her face with his little pink tongue. She then handed him to Danielle and he did the same to her. He wiggled like a fish as he tried to get his tongue inside her nose and up to her brain. His whole body was almost the size of Danielle’s torso. His leg was the same size as Lynda’s arm. I stayed behind the camera trying to snap as many shots as I could to capture the moment. 

Lynda was tearing up. She had planned to keep this dog, after all, and it wasn’t until that moment that I realised what a big deal this must be for her. She bred this little guy, knew his parents, watched him arrive in the world, and nurtured him into the budding young dude he was now. We decided not to elongate the farewell and hopped in the car to go home. Goliath snuggled into Danielle’s lap and we both shared big smiles. 

We had done it! The wait was over and neither of us could believe it. If you had told us that morning where we would be 8 hours later we would’ve called you insane. We drove home and our relationship changed in a profound way: we were no longer a couple, we were now, and would be forever more, a family. 

Arriving home we brought our puppy upstairs and let him explore his new domain. Dani and I shadowed him all around the house as he sniffed and investigated. We set up his bowls and his bed and organised all of the dog paraphernalia that would soon become household fixtures. After what was apparently some exhausting sniffing, he found a good patch of floor and laid down. We decided it was time to try out his new name. 

“Nova!” we called. 

Nothing. Not even a glance in our direction. He laid there staring at the wall like a mental patient. 

“Nova!” we tried again, more excited this time, “Come here Nova!” 

A perfunctory sniff at the air. 

We convinced ourselves that he just needed to get used to the name and resorted to bombarding him with it whenever possible. It was disheartening though. We had put so much thought into the name and he just couldn’t give two shits. That wasn’t all, either. Whenever I would go to lay down with him on the floor he would get up and move away. I would laugh and call him a goof but I could feel a seed of doubt growing in my chest. 

That night we left Nova out on the enclosed deck in case of any potty-related accidents. He cried and scratched at the door for a while until he finally gave up and went to sleep. Dani and I were determined to not give in and show this puppy who was in charge. We held firm but I knew that if he had kept it up just a little bit longer he would have won out and slept inside. 

The next day we took Nova to the park with us. We laughed at what a little explorer he was. Keen to investigate every bush, every ant, and every blade of grass he could find. We walked him around until he laid down in the shade panting. Dani and I took a moment as well – marvelling that we had finally done it. When we got up to leave, Nova stayed put. We called him over but he didn’t respond. It was different today though. He would look up and see us, but then look away. It’s easy to see what you want to see in an animal’s eyes and I don’t know that you can tell emotion from a dog’s expression, but I swear I could see sadness. 

That seed in my chest grew a little bit more. 

That night I tried again to get Nova to respond to his name. I would call him over and over, trying to say it in a really excited tone. This had the bonus effect of being hilarious to any on-lookers, but did nothing for Nova. Nothing we did seemed to work. He had decided that he wasn’t Nova, he wasn’t interested in being Nova, and he wasn’t participating in any Nova-related activities. 

We let him sleep inside on that second night as he had had no accidents the night before. Danielle was already in bed and I walked around the house checking locks and turning off lights as I normally do. Before I turned off the last light I looked over at our new puppy lying on the floor by the front door. 

“Nova…” I called, hoping he would look up. 

Nothing. I thought for a second and then switched tactics. 

“Goliath!” I called. 

His head shot up like a rocket and he looked me dead in the eyes. Big brown orbs staring right at me. This time I knew I saw it, there was no mistaking that look. He was Goliath and he was sad. 

I laid in bed for a long time that night, staring out our window at the full moon above. The kind of moon a wolf would bend its head back and howl to. This was not how it was supposed to be. We were supposed to be best buds. We were supposed to be inseparable. Where was the loyalty? Where was the love? 

I started to think about what we had done to this poor little dog. We had uprooted him from the only life he had ever known. Taken him away from his mom and his sisters. I imagined him out there in the living room, head pressed against the door wondering where his mom was. Trying to comprehend this new world he was thrust into without any say in the matter. In a day his entire life was changed. When you get a puppy no one tells you about this part. I realised how selfish I had been, thinking only of what this dog could do for me, how he would change my life. Never once had I thought about him and what this meant to him. 

I drifted off to a restless sleep with one thought running through my mind: 

“We had made a huge mistake.”