Avery Ngo is a senior at Penn State University studying Marketing and Management. This semester, she works as a fall intern at Vizion Group PR, where she writes, edits, and proofreads documents and creates graphics for the National Dog Show. In her free time, Avery enjoys creating art, trying new restaurants, traveling as much as possible, and playing the piano. She can’t wait to attend the National Dog Show this November!
I never realized how much of a troublemaker one tiny dog could be until 2024. After a long and uneventful school day, I came home to find a tiny black and white Havanese mix curled into a ball on the living room carpet with his tail hesitantly wagging. I recognized him instantly; he was the same dog I saw on an adoption website just days ago, except three times smaller than expected and somehow cuter. Suddenly, my boring day became one I’d never forget. As soon as he walked up to me, I knew that he would become the center of my life.
Hemingway (lovingly referred to as Hemmy) immediately started to show his personality; he would timidly sidle up to anyone and subtly beg for attention, as if he was too shy to ask, but in the next moment would act as if he thought his volume could make up for his tiny stature. He loves being in the same room as others (I always joke and say he has FOMO) but actively avoids big crowds at the same time because he’s terrified of loud noises, including fireworks and, for whatever reason, phone notifications. His quirks never end.
He’s incredibly mischievous; if at any time he manages to slink out of sight, you can always expect him to be doing something odd, like hiding under a bed for fun or trying to dig a hole through the carpet so he could bury a treat. At times I can’t help but wonder if he’s actually incredibly smart and chooses to act shy and sweet to get away with things, or if he’s just a really odd dog.
Being named after an author really suits him – after only two years of being with us, he has plenty of stories to share. One night, I left my room to get a snack, closed the dog gate, and went downstairs, leaving Hemmy inside. Within 10 minutes I heard him crying and whimpering. In a panic, I ran back upstairs to see that he had lodged his head between the post and the gate. In those 10 minutes, he had gotten such a strong case of FOMO that he decided the best course of action would be to try and shove his tiny body between the even tinier gap of the gate, which of course didn’t work. He stopped crying as soon as he saw me, after all, he got what he wanted; my attention.
Another time, my family went to the park to ride bikes and have a picnic with my relatives. I wasn’t able to go since I was working and told everyone to have fun. A few hours later, I got a message from my cousin saying that Hemmy had an eventful day and that she’d fill me in once we met up back home. At the park, my family was sitting down when my Dad decided he would take a quick bike ride, leaving Hemmy to sit with everyone else. As soon as my Dad left, Hemmy slipped out of his collar and booked it after him with three family members in tow, leash and collar flying behind them. Just imagining the sight of that would make me laugh if it didn’t kill me from having a heart attack first.
I wish those were the worst of his stories, but I’m afraid one adventure outdoes the rest. On a cool, breezy night, I left Hemmy in my room to go attend a late-night class. Typically, someone would be home to watch him at this time, but my brother and Dad were on a trip in Spain and my Mom was working, so it was just Hemmy left to his own devices. I gave him a quick hug, told him to enjoy the fresh air, and that I’d be back in three hours maximum.
I came back to a silent home, something that wasn’t too out of the ordinary. I assumed he was sleeping, and that I could surprise him once I opened the gate. After throwing open the gate and calling for him, I realized that he was nowhere to be found in my room. His bed was empty, he wasn’t hiding under my bed, and his head wasn’t stuck between the gate. I frantically searched the rest of the house, assuming he had jumped over the gate somehow, but found everything in perfect condition and no sign of his existence anywhere.
As I was calling my mom to ask if she had come home early and, for whatever reason, decided to take him out for a pitch-black nine p.m. walk, I went back upstairs into my room to re-examine everything and nearly dropped to my knees. Staring right in front of me was a giant gaping hole in the window screen and a million tiny scrambling paw prints on the windowsill. Hemingway had busted the screen, shimmied out the window, fallen who knows how many feet, escaped the fenced in backyard, and was running around in the darkness doing who knows what. Suddenly, everything clicked and I checked the date; it was Diwali, and during the celebration fireworks were lit. Hemmy had gotten so scared that he leapt out my window! I felt terrible.
Taking on the sudden role of a frantic parent, I ran around the neighborhood for an hour sobbing and calling his name, leash in hand, while my boyfriend and Mom helped me search. Halfway across the world in Spain, at 4 a.m., my Dad suddenly woke up to find a message on his phone from our neighbor, saying that he had seen our dog and our other neighbors were housing him. Somehow, my Dad was the one to find our dog even though he was millions of miles away.
We found Hemingway safe at our neighbor’s, and after thanking them profusely we went back home with Hemmy in my arms. I can laugh about it now, but I pray that that’s as adventurous as Hemingway’s stories will get.
I know that there are plenty of dogs with amazing personalities and crazier stories, and there’s no shortage of them every year at the National Dog Show at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, PA. This year, you can see thousands of dogs on Saturday, November 14and Sunday, November 15. Tickets are wonderfully inexpensive; adult tickets are $20 with children’s tickets (ages 4-11) $10 and free admission for children three and under. And if you’re unable to visit in person, it’s not a problem! The National Dog Show Presented by Purina will be aired on Thanksgiving Day on NBC from noon to 2 p.m. in all time zones.
Hemingway and I will be watching together to see all the stories, love, and companionship on display during the National Dog Show, and I hope it doesn’t inspire a new story!
