Like most dogs, I have to take heartworm and flea and tick medicines once a month. Well, Mom gave me the last doses she had in February, so last Thursday we went to my veterinarian’s office to get more. Mom called and told them how much she wanted before we left.

When we pulled into the parking lot, I got excited because I like to meet other dogs and I know I usually see several at the veterinarian’s office. Sure enough, when we walked in, there was a man sitting in a chair with a black Labrador Retriever sitting in front of him. I met the dog on our way to the desk.

When Mom told the lady at the desk what we were there for, the lady asked Mom her dog’s name. She said, “Harper.”

The lady looked at her and said, “Are you setting me up?”

Mom looked at the lady in confusion and turned to look at the man with the Labrador Retriever. He said, “This is Harper.”

Yes, his black Labrador Retriever’s name was Harper too!

So, anyway, the lady got my medicine and began ringing the purchase up for mom, when an older gentleman came into the office with a smaller black dog. It was obvious it was still a puppy, but not a real young pup. Anyway, he stopped with the lady at the first desk because he was there to drop off his puppy. Mom thinks it was to be spayed.

Okay, so here’s the shocker — Mom heard the man tell the lady his puppy’s name, but she couldn’t believe it. She looked at the gentleman with the black Labrador Retriever and he had a big grin on his face. Mom said, “Did he say…?” And the gentleman nodded.

So Mom says, “Harper! She’s another Harper? So, we have three Harpers here!”

The older gentleman then brought his puppy to meet me, then took her to meet the Labrador Retriever. Mom asked him what kind of dog his puppy was, and he said, “She’s 53% Boxer, 43% Pitbull, and the rest is a hodgepodge of several different things.”

After mom paid for my medicines and we turned to leave, she stopped to talk to the gentleman with the black Labrador Retriever. She said, “So, how did you decide on Harper for her?”

He said, “Well, my wife and I are Harper Lee fans.”

Mom said, “Me too!”

Then he said, “My wife already has a cat named Atticus. So we decided to call her Harper. And friends of ours have a dog named Scout.”

Mom said, “I was planning on getting a male and naming it Atticus, but a friend offered her to me, and I wasn’t going to turn down a free dog. That’s how she became ‘Harper’.”

Mom really wanted to ask the other man how he decided on Harper for his dog too, but he was too busy with the receptionist and getting his puppy taken care of.

The lady who waited on Mom at the check-out desk couldn’t believe it when the third Harper came in. She stood up so she could see over the desk, and she said, “And all three of them are black! This won’t happen again today.”

Meeting two other black Harpers was fun!