Squirt – Trauma Healing Tiny Miracle Worker

Written by Katherine Kimm

As a little girl I witnessed my brother get bitten by a dog, and ever since dogs have terrified me. I couldn’t even be on the same sidewalk if I saw a dog walking toward me quickly crossing the street to be on the opposite sidewalk. Chris, a dog lover, understood this about me and never pushed me to get close to a dog. As a result, we were a pet free family.

Then one day, our son, a senior in high school at the time, called and asked if he could bring a scared tiny puppy home for the weekend. I hesitated, but my husband encouraged me with the thought that she was so little, the runt of three puppies left out in a box in the middle of a street.

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She was indeed tiny, less than four pounds with sharp baby teeth and velvety black ears. Alright, the “fear” factor was a non-issue, however she was obviously not house broken. Still not enamored with the situation, I suggested to our son, taking her to a shelter on Monday. By then he had bonded with this unnamed puppy, and hearing my heartless plan, the emotional floodgates burst open pleading for me to reconsider. So, what’s a mother to do? I took her to the office and presented the case during our office-wide Monday morning meeting to see if anyone was interested in adopting her. Instead of adoption, someone suggested that we could make her the office mascot and I could bring her to work every day. The motion passed.

An office dog.

Our kids, the high school senior and a daughter, home for summer from college, named her Squirt. Squirt was now OUR dog. The commitment was made and there was no going back.

What followed completely took me by surprise. With the commitment that Squirt was our/my dog, love came pouring out of me from nowhere. Squirt went with me everywhere, I mean everywhere. She came to work with me every day for almost 13 years until the day she was put to rest.

Thanks to Squirt, our office continues to welcome dogs, one dog at a time—we had three dogs that showed up one day!

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Squirt opened a traumatized and locked door in my heart setting me free from the fear of animals, not just dogs, but all animals, big and small. I would like to think that Squirt would be happy knowing that the cure was permanent and no trace of my heartless past self remains.

Our family now has two dogs. Chris just had to wait patiently.