Scott heard from Joe, a college buddy, that someone was giving away a four-month-old puppy that had cost them $300. He was a mix of Jack Russell terrier and something bigger. The family felt bad that they were gone all day, and the puppy was crated every day for hours.
Scott thought about the puppy as he went on spring break in Palm Desert to visit his mom.
Then the college buddy sent a photo.
“Man, I want that dog!” Scott told Joe. “Pick him up for me now, and I’ll pay you $60.00!”
Joe went over to get the dog named Huckleberry Finn. The little girl had named him, and she and her brother cried when Joe took the dog away.
Joe texted Scott. I am bonding with this dog on our beach runs.
Scott asked his mom if they could head back to the Bay Area, where she still did hair, to claim his dog before Joe decided to keep him.
“No!” Mom Julie said. “We have spring break to do first.”
“I earned that $60.00,” Joe said when Scott got home. “The kids were so sad.”
Scott was happy to get the goofy-looking dog that would grow to 40 pounds. At the time Scott lived with his granddad, so Finn spent a lot of time hanging out with the old guy. Grandpa was happy.
“He’s my dog,” Scott said when he decided to take Finn with him to go work on a pot farm in the Trinity National Forest.
“He’s my dog,” Granddad said. “I’ve paid all of his vet bills so far.”
Scott won in the end, and Finn got to run all over the 80-acre pot farm with a bigger dog, a 100 lb. Belgian Malinois named Bear, there to guard the weed. The dogs slept in a shed and a trailer.
When Scott discovered a mountain-lion footprint near the shed one day and told his mom, she said he’d better bring Finn to her new place near Placerville. Scott soon followed. Watching pot grow wasn’t as much fun as he’d hoped.
Six months later, Scott had fallen in love, and he was following a Guatemalan girl to her homeland.
“Mom, could you watch Finn for me while I’m gone?” Scott asked.
Julie already had a lab named Sadie, but Finn was just so cute.
“Sure,” Mom Julie said.
Scott stayed away for 18 months, learning Spanish and learning that the gorgeous Latina was not a good fit for him as a life partner. He came back and tried to claim his dog.
“You can’t have him!” Mom Julie said. “Finn has bonded with me and Sadie.”
Julie took Finn to a dog park where a pit bull named Queenie bit him. The second time it happened, Julie got in the middle of things and got bitten on her forearm. She couldn’t have stitches because the open wound had to drain to prevent infection.
Queenie’s owner would not take any responsibility for Julie’s injury. Julie couldn’t do her hairdresser job and filed a claim in small claims court for $2000. Then one day she got a phone call from the Judge Judy people. She was asked to fly to LA and have her case heard on national TV.
Julie agreed to go on the Judge Judy show. The judge ruled in Julie’s favor. Meanwhile, Julie’s older son had moved home and cared for Finn and Sadie while Julie was away.
Finn is now 4 and a half years old. He’s the pot farm pet that everyone wanted – Scott, Granddad, Julie, Joe, and the two sad kids in the beginning.
Of course, they all did. Just look at his adorable face!
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 