Mochi Cakes
by Michel Rosenthal
I always wanted a Wheaten Terrier but I’d never had a dog and didn’t know much about anything. But I knew I wanted to adopt. One day I put on my thinking hat and Googled Wheaten Terrier rescue and lo and behold there’s a midwest Wheaten Terrier Rescue group. I immediately filled out an application for a puppy – having NO idea if I was even a dog person. Shortly after that they called and said they had a 3 month old puppy and what would his name be. Sidebar, I’d attended a Japanese restaurant opening about 15 years prior to this call and when the dessert card came and it said “Mochi Cakes”, I said to my friend “THAT is the cutest name I’ve ever heard. If I ever get a dog I’m naming him Mochi Cakes. “Mochi Cakes” I said. They came and interviewed me and checked out my home. When it was decided I could have him, the rescue group which is in Iowa suggested I meet their daughter’s boyfriend’s parents after “the game” on a Sunday. I waited for them at midnight in the Marengo Truck stop. It felt like a drug deal. I wandered around the truck stop shop with my blinking bluetooth thingie in my ear feeling like I’d landed there from another planet. Finally the car pulled up and there was my baby puppy Mochi Cakes Rosenthal. I picked him up, kissed him, put him in the car, and drove home with him. He’d been in a puppy mill and literally wouldn’t walk. I waited with him outside my car until he figured it out and finally brought him home. We fell in love quickly and have been best pals now for 10.5 years. He’s the best dog ever.