The story of how Justin Desmond and Ashley Bautista wound up with their pug, Abraham Lincoln, actually starts with their cat, Benjamin Franklin.

In the summer of 2009, lifelong animal lovers Desmond, 27, and Bautista, 25, went to the Walden Galleria adoption center run by the SPCA Serving Erie County to find a cat. Right away, they spotted Benjamin, a gray and black striped tabby with a white nose, chin and chest.

"We liked the look of him, he had a very big head, so we asked them to take him out of his cage so we could play with him in a room, and in the entire half-hour we were there, they could not get him out of his cage," says Desmond, chuckling. "He was very skittish and not acting very well."

While Desmond and Bautista were standing by, says Desmond, "A couple about our age walked up, looked at his tag and said, 'Who would adopt a 6-year-old cat?' and that was the moment we decided to adopt him."

Ben had lost almost all his teeth to disease and was scarred, either from abuse or the rough life of a stray cat. "On paper he looked like a terrible cat, but he has been the single greatest cat I have ever owned," says Desmond.

Benjamin Franklin got his name because "It fits him perfectly. If he were a human, he'd have a Ph.D.," says Desmond. "He is like a little person; he's amazing."

After a brief period of shyness, Benjamin "came out of his shell and he started to crack everybody up," says Desmond. "We were always taking pictures of him standing and opening all the cupboards and then jumping into the very upper cupboards above the stove."

Despite Benjamin's age, physical problems and initial resistance to meeting them, Desmond says, "We loved him from the second we got him and you could tell he was really thankful for getting a good home. To this day, you can see that."

Late last year, the couple decided they wanted a pal for Benjamin. At first they considered a puppy, but they quickly figured out that with two full-time jobs and plenty of community activity, they didn't have the time to train a puppy and wouldn't be home to let it out every few hours. "We realized a puppy was not going to fit with our lifestyle," says Desmond.

He started taking trips to the SPCA Serving Erie County shelter in Tonawanda to look at available dogs, but none seemed quite right. Then, on Dec. 29, in the very last wing they visited, they spotted a sweet-faced 4-year-old pug named Ace.

"What appealed to us was that he was the correct size," says Desmond. "We didn't want a very small dog, and we don't have the home for a very large dog. Plus his breed -- pugs are cute, although I did know about their medical problems. I assumed right away that he wasn't going to be there long before he was adopted. Then we looked at his tag, which said that he was blind."

Since Abraham doesn't look blind, Desmond and Bautista were taken aback. "At first we said, 'We can't do this,'" says Desmond.

"I was hesitant," says Bautista. "I thought, 'That's going to be a lot to handle.'"

Yet they hung around near his run as a worker who had been photographing Ace snapped his picture. When she finished, she approached them, says Desmond. "She said, 'Were you guys looking at the pug?' We said we were, and she said, 'Don't let [his blindness] stop you, please take a look, you guys would be great for him.'"

Desmond and Bautista kept talking as they watched the happy dog. "Within 10 minutes I thought, 'Why can't we?'" says Desmond. "We really have the ideal situation for him. We don't have kids, we have a fairly easy house, we don't have a ton of time, but the time we do have is entirely devoted to him."

Bautista recalls, "As we got talking, we said, 'What's going to be different? Not too much.'"

The more Desmond looked at Ace, the more concerned he became -- not about how a blind dog would change their lives, but about what would happen if they didn't take him home. Desmond says, "I started to wonder, 'If we don't take him, will he go to the right people?'"

The couple took Ace into a room to get to know him better and outside for a walk. On the way, the exuberant dog bumped into several doors and walls before they got the hang of guiding him with the leash. "It was clear that he was absolutely blind," says Desmond.

"I think we talked about it for 20 minutes and decided, "We can do this,'" says Desmond.

Ace had to be neutered, so they left him at the shelter for a day or so, which gave Desmond and Bautista time to do their homework. They spent hours reading about living with blind dogs, and they made some simple modifications to their home, such as placing throw rugs in doorways so Abraham would know by feel that he was about to leave the room.

Renamed Abraham Lincoln, the dog and the cat hit it off immediately, except for one poignant problem.

"We can't explain to Benjamin that Abraham is blind, so when Abraham is walking and runs into Benjamin, Benjamin takes it as a sign of aggression," says Desmond. "Benjamin has never attacked him, but he will give him a swat, and on that first swat, Abraham turns and walks right away. We watch that very closely, but other than that everything is good and they have already started to cuddle together."

Desmond says Abraham is "brilliant, so intelligent about learning his surroundings and using his other senses" to get around, and so confident and happy on walks that "most people don't know he's blind until we tell them." Still, they watch out for him vigilantly, and, says Desmond, "It's a stronger bond because we are there to protect him and it's almost as if he understands that."

Of course, the couple wonders what Abraham's life was like before he wound up at the SPCA. "He was surrendered because the owner said they had too many pets. But he also has cropped ears, and that is not normal for a pug, so we wonder if maybe at one point he was used as a bait dog," says Desmond. "That's the thing about adopting an older animal; we're always wondering what his life was like before."

Abraham's behavior gives hints that he wasn't always blind. He plays fetch, for example, combing the floor to find a toy after it's thrown. "He's so excited when he finds it that we play that a lot," says Desmond.

Desmond and Bautista are devoted to Abraham, who adores them in return. "He will follow one of us at every moment, and when one of us sits down, that's the one he wants to be near," says Desmond. "I read a comment online that pugs are a mixture of dog and cartoon, and everything about him is so quirky and funny, he's ugly and yet he's the cutest thing I've ever seen."

Abraham's enthusiastic greetings, says Bautista, "make me so happy to come home."

Their strong bond with Abraham and the love he has added to their lives "really sealed the deal that I will never adopt a young, perfect animal again," says Desmond. "It doesn't feel right when you can be making such a bigger difference to another animal who is going to otherwise be overlooked and never get adopted. It doesn't matter if the animal is 5 or 10, if you can make a difference for whatever years they have left."

Many people looking for a pet pass by older animals, or those with physical or emotional issues. "A lot of people look at these animals as broken, and that was said about Benjamin just for being an older cat," says Desmond. "That's the wrong way to look at it. There is a ton of overlooked joy that these animals can bring."

Desmond and Bautista are both grateful to the shelter worker who encouraged them to look again at Abraham. "I didn't get a chance to see her again, but I wanted to thank her for giving us that little nudge," says Desmond.

aneville@buffnews.com null