Sneakers: The Original Pooch

Most of my posts have been funny. Light hearted stories about silly things animals do that make us love them. This one is different. My first dog, Sneakers, died in early June, after being with me for over 13 years. I watched him go from an enthusiastic, energetic, almost puppy to an old man who loved nothing more than naps, butt scratches, and occasional barks. I was with Sneakers most of his life. What really strikes me though, is what Sneakers was there for in my life. I got him while I was still in college. He was with me through my mom's cancer and death. He moved to Colorado with me, had endless patience through all the apartments, roommates, cats, dogs, and what sometimes seemed like endless turmoil. He stayed with me through office jobs and starting a business. Sometimes he came to work with me, more often he didn't. He waited patiently for me at home. He tolerated dogs in and out of his house for most of his life. Always making room for them, especially the ones that needed him most. When I brought Killian home he was immediately drawn to Sneakers. His calm, steady personality grounded Killian in a world that was completely foreign to him. Sneakers had a knack for knowing who needed him and how he could help them.

If there is one story that I will never forget about Sneakers it was the day I brought him to work with me at the vet, when a family came in not knowing it would be the last day with their dog. Their dog was not our patient, their regular vet was out of town, so we were covering for them. A man and two children, perhaps 10 and 12 came in, with a cheerful but limping 15 year old greyhound. The greyhound was injured, and after x rays, it was found that she had terminal cancer. Her family decided to end her pain instead of prolonging it. The little boy though, had never lived in this world without her. He was devastated at losing his best friend. When he left the exam room with his sister (dad stayed with their pooch) he was wailing. It was a sound I have not often heard and one I won't forget. It cut right to the raw part of us that loves freely. That knows our animals love us and doesn't care how it looks to other people. Our love for them is true and unfettered with worry on whether it's reciprocated. I took a deep breath, and pulled the tears back from my own eyes, put Sneakers on a leash and walked out to the lobby. I asked the boy if he would like to pet Sneakers while he waited and he nodded through his tears. Sneakers hopped up on the bench next to him, and laid down in his lap, pressing his body into his chest. He waited patiently while the little boy wept, holding onto Sneakers with all he was worth, like Sneakers was the only thing keeping him on this earth. When his dad came out of the exam room, Sneakers got up and returned to me, the little boy and his sister left the office with their dad. Sneakers napped the rest of the day.

Sneakers was by no means perfect, but he was kind and sweet. I miss him every day. And I'm so grateful for his presence in my life. I never would have gotten through those years without him.

Here's another picture heavy post. A lot of times, dogs that stay here end up making friends with each other. Sometimes they ignore each other but many of them are used to having a human to themselves and very much want snuggles. Since I'm the only human here most of the time, that means they have to learn to share. This results is some pretty adorable photos of them snuggling each other while they try to get as close to me as possible. Here are some photos.

Even MJ can't resist Elway's cuddle game

Salty thinks maybe she isn't doing this right

Miss Lauren we both want to be close to you so we're going to be close to each other and smother you together

Doga

Sometimes, I have too much going on to get to the gym. I'm sure many of you can sympathize. When that happens (and I'm on my game) I do a workout video or some yoga at home. This usually goes pretty well, my dogs know to stay out of the way. There are a few that will try to snuggle with me but sometimes, they want to help. Baxter in particular, is a big helper. Not only does he have to be nearby (sometimes looming over me, sometimes laying along my side but proximal one way or another). This post is going to be more about pictures than words. But here are a few of some of the more "intrusive" helpers.

Beanz says, "This is a great spot. I fits I sits"

 

Killian: Miss Lauren I think yoga would help my brain relax

Feets are for faces for Baxter!

Chiweenie Vs. Weimeraner

As we talked about last week, Killian is a weird little dog. Here's a story that shows his confidence, completely the opposite of last week's tail.

 

One day, the dog door was open and I was outside scooping poo (this is a common occurrence as you can imagine). I heard Killian barking a lot which is usually a signal that he's being a jerk. I went to see what was up, wondering who he could possibly be bullying since the only visiting dog was an 80 pound weimeraner named Heidi. I came inside to find Heidi standing in a corner, braying like an agitated donkey and Killian barking and stopping her from the leaving the corner. I called him off and he went outside, prancing and proud that he "bested" such an intimidating foe. Heidi immediately came over for some reassurance that she was OK (she was). Poor Heidi, bullied by a 10 pound chiweenie. They got along well after that. Apparently, Killian decided is position was secure and Heidi had no intention of challenging that.

Oh Chip! What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

Killian is a weird little dog. I expect a lot of stories from him. He is my foster dog and comes from a hoarder situation where he was barely touched by people. While he's generally comfortable with dogs, he's terrified of being touched by people. He's also a bit of a bully when it comes to dogs who don't stand up to him. Usually the dogs are a little bigger than he is and a little nervous with dogs. Here is one of his more memorable stories from his first week with me.

I picked Killian up the week before the Super Bowl. I worked with him a little but he was still pretty terrified of new people. I threw my annual Super Bowl party and made sure he had a place to retreat to. To my surprise, he hung around in the living room quite a bit. Mostly trolling for food and snacks from everyone. He handled things pretty well until just after half time when we heard something a bit strange. It sounded like a potato chip bag being crumpled but the sound was moving through the house, as were teeny tiny foot steps. Suddenly, a floating potato chip bag came flying into the room and ran through the back of the house. As it retreated, we could see it was powered by little chiweenie legs. Well, now we know why the potato chip bag is moving, but how am I going to get close enough to this tiny dog who doesn't trust me at all yet to rescue him? Fortunately, he was running laps trying to figure it out. I stood near a doorway and snatched the bag off his head as he ran through. He stopped and looked around at the entire party laughing. To his credit, he shook it off and took up a position in the corner to observe the rest of the day. He definitely got some chips after that ordeal!

Hey Luna, What Do You Have Th...Oh God!

I have a lot of stories about Luna. She was one of my favorite dogs, her mom was really nice, and she walked really well. She had been a street dog in Honduras but her mom fell in love when she was there (I think for the Peace Corps) and took her home. She was a little busted up, had been hit by a car and her leg wasn't set properly, a good sized hole in one of her ears, but was generally good natured and sweet. She loved all people but she could do without dogs when she was on leash. There will be many more Luna stories to come but this one stands out.

My Dog Walker, Mark, had been working for me for a while by this point. He knew Luna pretty well and enjoyed her walks as much as everyone else did. One day, he texted me a story that I'm unlikely to forget. As I said, Luna was a street dog. Because of this, she wanted to eat EVERYTHING. She preferred any kind of food (even rotten) but there were many things I pulled out of her mouth in her time with me. Fortunately, I never had this particular pleasure. Mark said he noticed her sniffing and called her. She was normally very good but didn't look up. He tugged on the leash and she grabbed something and ran to bring it to him. He couldn't quite see what it was but could see it wasn't something she should be eating. He grabbed for it but she pulled away. When she turned her head he could see that it was... a cat's leg. This kitty had obviously been dead for quite some time, now we really didn't want her to eat it. He went for it again but she whipped away, and swallowed it. Gross. Mark moved quickly away from the bush where she had found her prize and texted me. I told mom to keep an eye on her for any unfortunate side effects. I'll give it to mom, she took it in stride and responded with something like, "Oh Luna". The rest of the walk passed without incident, fortunately. Mark and I chatted about it later and both agreed that it was way better that he was walking Luna that day, and not his girlfriend Jess, who also walked for me. We both would have heard about that for months!

Who Let The Dogs Out?

When your company cares for 100 dogs or more a week, there's bound to be some craziness. We are very careful with locking doors, checking gates, and following client instructions but just like anything else, there are a lot of things that can go wrong at any given time, and sometimes, they do. Here is one such story.

 Ryan was my first Dog Walker. We had known each other forever and he wasn't getting enough hours at his job at a dog daycare. He reached out and asked if I was hiring. Trying not to sound too desperate, I said yes. I hadn't had a day off in months. The idea of not having a walk for an entire day was almost too tempting to even think about. It worked out well and he worked for me for two years. After over a year, he was staying at a client's house. The client had three dogs, plus her daughter's dog was there. I got a frantic call from mom a couple days into the trip saying that a neighbor had called and all four of her dogs were out. Ryan was done with walks and headed back already and I decided to go out too to help catch them. Nikki (my GM) was with me and we jumped in my car and drove out. The house was far and rush hour was starting so it took us 45 minutes to get there. In that time I called another client who lived a block away and asked if she would be able to help look. She said she had the flu but gamely got into her car and drove around looking for them (have I mentioned how much I love my clients?). She saw them a couple times and relayed their positions, which Nikki then relayed to Ryan, who changed his direction. By the time we showed up Ryan was getting the last dog in the house. He was huffing and puffing but also smiling. That could have been terrible.

The question still remains though, who did let the dogs out? Ryan wasn't home when they busted out, he hadn't touched the gate at all. Mom insisted the gate was secure and he must have let them out or left something open somewhere. Determined to get to the bottom of this, most obviously because we didn't want it to happen again, we went to the gate and investigated. We discovered that the gate had been pushed hard enough that it had popped open. We suspect that a cat or neighbor's dog was on the other side and the dogs were barking and jumping on the gate (something they didn't normally do). With the weight of 4 dogs and that much activity, the gate couldn't hold up. We fixed it up so that it would hold and I took pictures to send to mom. In the end, the dogs were all safe, and the dogs let the dogs out.