By Amber Smith
Staff writer

She approached her husband with the idea of getting two new dogs.

He didn’t like the idea. "But," allowed John Nilsen, "I always end up giving you what you want, so we might as well start looking."

Nigro-Nilsen called the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. A 9-month-old Schnauzer-Terrier female was available. "She became homeless as a result of a divorce, and there is something wrong with her eyes," the SPCA woman said. "But she’s so cute, you’ve got to come and see her."

Nigro-Nilsen sent her husband, figuring he would be more dispassionate.

By that evening, they were filling out the adoption papers and making arrangements to have the dog spayed. She had blue eyes, but they looked fuzzy. The couple reasoned that if she became blind, they had a fenced back yard in which she could safely play.

They named her Lucy, for Santa Lucia, the patron saint of the eyes. A veterinarian at Cornell University, by the way, has since said the eyes have congenital scar tissue but are not the early stages of glaucoma. The dog can see, but it’s like she’s looking through cloudy water.

The couple quickly set out to find Lucy a sibling.

Nigro-Nilsen turned to the Internet and soon began corresponding with the owner of Bailey, a 10 month-old Miniature Schnauzer near Philadelphia.

Nigro-Nilsen works as a career counselor by day. She and her husband perform music together in the evenings-so he’s home in the daytime working on songs and booking gigs.

On Election Day, they put Lucy in a cage in the back seat and drove to Scranton, where Bailey’s owner met them to turn over the dog.

Lucy was not happy.

"After being alpha dog for two months, she didn’t take too kindly to sharing her domain or our attentions," Nigro-Nilsen says.

At first they worried, but thy were determined to put a damper on the sibling rivalry. They made a point to give each dog ample attention, and to discourage inappropriate behavior. They had Bailey neutered (Lucy was spayed).

Within a week and a half, they were best buddies. They cavort in the back yard near Schiller park.

Nigro-Nilsen says the dogs remind her husband of them. Lucy is wiry, fast and lovable. Bailey is built like a cinder block, nonchalant and more reserved.

As Lucy chased Bailey around the yard, Nigro-Nilsen heard her husband offer Bailey advice, "Get used to it, Bailey," he shouted, "Once you give them what they want, they just ask for more!"

Copyright 1999, The Post Standard. All rights reserved.  
Used with permission of The Post Standard.