How a puppy changed David Campbell’s life
A year on from adopting a rescue dog after a frightening home break-in, David Campbell and his family can’t imagine life without their beloved pet.
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If you cast your mind way back to a year ago, you may have a tonne of emotions that accompany your memories.
My overriding sensation is just how great good ol’ 2019 seems in retrospect. Frankly, most of the years in recent memory seem better than this dumpster fire.
For our household, it has been a massive year. Because it was a year ago that our family grew to love something in such a way that we never had before.
Our puppy Scully came into our lives, and things have never been the same since.
Now, this isn’t my first dog rodeo – although the image of this is both instantly adorable and possibly cruel. I had a dog from the time I was nine, which is the same age as my oldest is now. His name was Barney.
He was a poodle and collie cross, which in the mid-1980s was not fashionable in any way, shape or form.
Bless Barney, he was also not gifted with much shape nor form. Kind of like a beige ball of untrained fluff. Still, he was a lovely but odd-looking companion for a young boy.
My wife has never been a dog person. As a child, she had cats. In fact, she has admitted to me she is indeed a “Cat Person”.
Hardly the confession of a wannabe Carole Baskin [from Netflix’s Tiger King], but Lisa never really got why people like dogs. (I know!)
Finally, there are my kids. All three were terrified of man’s best friend.
Not to throw too much shade, but I will lay a little blame at the paws of my father’s two beloved schnauzers. The furry brothers adored my dad and were fiercely loyal. However, this meant they were extremely noisy whenever anyone came to visit. So my kids went from jumpy to firmly not on board the dog train.
All this changed 365 days ago, when after a household break-in, we decided that we needed extra security.
So we picked up the sweetest little ball of red fur, with what looked like white socks on her feet. Scully the toller. Little did she know she had a monumental task on her paws.
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I can let you know, 12 months later, that it’s mission accomplished.
Leo was the first to take a shine to her, and she to him. Seeing her being drawn to him took me back to my youth, reliving the beginning of my love of dogs through his eyes.
The twins have had one of the biggest turnarounds. Billy, who used to cry when he cast his young eyes on a canine, is obsessed with Scully. If the puppy is trying to nap, you can bet Bill wants to lie next to her, including in her bed.
Betty, who if I’m being honest, may have at first been threatened by the magnetic charms of our four-legged family member, has warmed so much she identifies Scully as an actual sister.
Thrilled to have another girl in the house, Betty sees a line down the middle between the three boys and three girls.
These days, all our kids go up to any dog of every shape and size without fear. They approach with the curiosity and kindness that Scully has taught them.
And my wife? The only cats she never liked were in the divisive musical of the same name. Now she’s changed religion, converted from the Cult of Cats to the Dogma of Scully.
We are so lucky to have Scully. We have been healed and made whole as a family in ways I never knew we needed.
Scully has trained us. She has made us better humans in this world of dogs.
David co-hosts Today Extra, 9am Monday to Friday, on the Nine Network.