SCOOBY
WINSTON
ON DOGS & DO-OVERS THE MOMENT I WOKE UP, I REALIZED I’D MADE A TERRIBLE MISTAKE. THE
previous day I’d been looking for a pooch to fill the hole in my life left by the boyfriend I recently broke up with. I wasn’t sure I saw any I was ready to commit to. But after sleeping on it, I realized that the one big brown goofy mutt I’d seen was the dog for me. I began to panic: What if someone else came along and snatched my dog? I couldn’t abide that, so I spent the whole morning tracking
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DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020
METROSOURCE.COM
him down to a PetSmart in South Philly where he was appearing at an adoption event. Making my way to the back of the store, I filled out the paperwork. I named him Scooby and took him home. That was 13 years ago. You don’t always get the chance to go back and correct a mistake like the one I made initially overlooking Scooby. The past dozen-plus years would have been far less fulfilling and joyous if I hadn’t had that first do-over with him. It would be the first of many.
PHOTOS BY TERENCE O’BRIEN
SOMETIMES A FURRY FRIEND CAN HELP MEND A BROKEN HEART — OR EVEN REPAIR A RELATIONSHIP. BUT THEIR BIGGEST GIFT MAY BE THE LESSONS THEY TEACH ABOUT SECOND CHANCES. BY TERENCE O’BRIEN
