“Hey Mom, Vegas discovered life’s a game of poker – gotta play your hand right. Forget scary vets & soggy tofu, she’s all about chips & shrimp cocktails now. Can’t believe it took Sinatra & a bulldog for her to find her paws in Spencerville. But hey, she’s fetching happiness one poker chip at a time. Life’s beachy, right? Tails up, Lucky.”

Listen to the story here.

If there was one thing I just couldn’t understand it was Vegas’s love for that darned Rubber Poker Chip. She wasn’t even interested in a game of poker! But then who am I to judge, graced with a full throttle zest, a complete satisfaction with life that overflows in her bounding leaps on the beaches of Brindle Brown Boxer. Vegas is, in every way, the spirited embodiment of Spencerville. I tell ya, any toss of a chip could turn into a wild chase, a rush of adrenaline and the most expressive laughter echoing through that beach.

She wasn’t always like this, you know. No, no. At first, she was just a pup full of potential but confused as hell. Scared of everything. Yep, even the sight of our local vet, a sweet, kindly woman named Vera could send her into a tailspin of panic.

But ah, then Sinatra arrived. The majestic Huskie gave her courage and confidence. I still remember the day she, with Sinatra at her side, boldly trotted into The Groom Room. The bell jingled as they strolled – her white coat as radiant as the celestial takeout boxes at The Cat’s Meow Sushi – she came out a new dog. A boxer who’d packed her punches, aligned her game. Sinatra’s been a real saviour, a seraph without wings.

Yet it wasn’t all just learning to bark louder or run faster. No-no, Vegas had her discriminations. She’d turn up her nose at tofu like it had personally offended her. Shrimp cocktail, though? Man, she’d be the happiest canine alive in Spencerville.

She would paint the town bright with her infectious zest; in her games with fat Russell, the resident English Bulldog who had become her regular companion, in the din of the Fetch-N-Bites. From the one who pee’d in fear to the one who led the pack in the Western Fawn Pug Palace, she’d found herself along the way. Amid the freedom and in the limitations, the moment of death and the anticipation of reunion, she found resilience, wisdom, love and independence.

Oh, and as for that Rubber Poker Chip? I’ve decided it’s not really about the game, but the companionship, the spirit of challenge, the thrill of the chase. Sometimes you learn the most profound things from the quirkiest quirks, and sometimes, the one teaching you is a white boxer named Vegas in a place called Spencerville. The rules may seem odd, the customs far flung, but hey, it’s home and it always will be.

So here’s to Vegas, the exuberant soul of Spencerville, growing up just as we all do: muddling through a little, thriving a lot, always eager and ever ready for that toss of a Poker Chip on the beach.

The End.