Mocha has been a bit of a difficult dog ever since we left him in a kennel. We’re not entirely sure if it’s the kennel’s fault – they have a good reputation amongst other dog owners in the area and I doubt they mistreated Mocha in any way – though the act of leaving Mocha alone for a while may have triggered his anxieties. Since we rescued him from an animal shelter, it’s possible he was abandoned by his previous owners and started to worry when he felt we were abandoning him too.
However, Mia and I are both busy working professionals with busy schedules. At least once a month, we have to travel or leave Mocha alone for most of the day. We hate doing it, but it’s not always possible to bring Mocha along with us, especially when we’re staying with friends who are not comfortable with dogs either.
So for long trips, we leave him with Melvin & Cabbie’s parents, who take great care of him. Every time I watch them wrestle, I see a great big smile on Mocha. It’s so obvious that he loves being with other dogs.
Which leads us to conclude that his recent behavioral problems may be solvable by getting a second dog. Another solution would be more exercise and activity, which we’ve been trying. A second dog, however, could play with Mocha and give him the social interaction that he craves. Also, we’re not always able to give Mocha the exercise and activity he needs because of our aforementioned schedule. Perhaps a second dog could.
Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done. A second dog presents its own challenges, such as increased costs, time to find the right companion, additional training needs, etc. We also know of a few more long trips we’ll need to take. We can’t expect Melvin & Cabbie’s parents to take care of four dogs. Placing two dogs in a kennel for weeks would be damn expensive too. And we couldn’t bring our dogs along on a trip to another country either.
So what do we do? Sigh. We don’t know yet. We’re hoping more exercise, training, patience, and love can help the little guy. Hopefully that will be enough.
Today I picked up our new best friend from the veterinarian. He was just neutered, chipped, and vaccinated – all necessary things to do for most family pets.
He was pretty drugged up and mellow. I imagined him thinking, “Dude, this is like… dude… what’s going… where am… dude… this is all like so… dude…” Not sure why I imagined him talking like a surfer dude, but I did.
The stitches were red and raw. I couldn’t help taking a peek, then grabbing my own balls and shrieking in sympathetic pain. “I’m sorry boy, I’m real sorry,” I whimpered. His balls looked like a shriveled little prune sack. How sad.
We don’t know his exact birthday, nor his exact age, since he’s from an animal shelter. Just the same, we decided to make today – May 26th, 2009 – his 1-yo birthday. Being the geek that I am, I marked it on my Google Calendar so I wouldn’t forget. You laugh now, but wait ’till you forget a birthday and wish you had a Google Alert warning you of a friend’s upcoming birthday.
We have a feeling Mocha is probably younger than a year right now. But just so we could stick to the human convention of celebrating an entire revolution around the Sun, and because we’re a bunch of saps, we made today his birthday.
Happy Birthday shriveled-prune-sack dude!
It was love at first wag. Almost.
We spotted him in the cage with another lively pooch. He was lying down, looking bored and uninterested in us. The other dog came up and sniffed our fingers eagerly.
I don’t know what it was about him. Maybe his totally & utterly insane cuteness? I dunno. But after months of visiting local animal shelters and dog rescue organizations, we asked to play with this bored fella right away, bypassing Mr. Lively.
The shelter attendant took him out of the cage and over to the meet & greet pen. It’s a small fenced-in area with a bench, a tree, and a trash can & pooper scooper – perfect for being introduced to a potential new best friend. If you hit it off, you sign some papers, pay a small fee, and pick up your new four-legged furry friend in a few days (after the vet spays or neuters your friend, a painful necessity). If not, back to the cage he goes.
Friends with dogs told us that we’ll just know when the right dog comes along. Armed with a general idea of what we wanted and what we could handle, we approached every dog we met with an open mind.
What we wanted was a medium-sized dog with a chill temperament. That ruled out lots of breeds, like Rottweilers, German Shepherds, Chihuahuas, etc. Of course, it’s always possible to get a calm dog of one of those breeds, but unless they were mixed, they wouldn’t be medium-sized.
The first dog we asked to see was a beagle & chihuahua mix. Nice, cute as a button, but ultra-hyper. Back in the cage he went.
The second dog was also cute as a button, but was already adopted. Rats!
The next few dogs were from a dog rescue organization that visited our local Petco every weekend. We picked up a few dogs, big and small. Petted them. Played with them. But none quite fit our fancy.
Then we saw this bored little fella.
As soon as we hit the pen, he was off, sniffing the grass and dirt. Then he sniffed us. He wasn’t too frantic, but still a little weary.
“What kind of dog is he?” we asked.
“We think he’s a mix of a Golden Retriever and Terrier,” said the attendant. We later decided that he was more of a Labrador Retriever than a Golden, because of his short hairs. Someone else later suggested that the Terrier was a Jack Russell Terrier, which seemed to make a lot of sense too.
“How old is he?”
The attendant looked at his paws. “Looking at his paws, he’s fully grown. This will be about his full size, once he’s well fed.” She pointed at his ribs. “Poor guy hasn’t had a good meal in a long time. He’s probably under 20 pounds right, but with a good diet and loving home, he might grow to about 25 pounds.”
We nodded. He was the size we wanted.
Then the attendant checked his teeth. “He looks to be about a year old, we think. His permanent teeth have all fully grown in, and they haven’t aged much yet. Also,” she opened his mouth so we could see. “His teeth are pretty white. Someone’s taken good care of his teeth.”
“How did you guys find him?”
She checked her clipboard. “He was found wandering a park a few towns over. He’s listed as a stray dog. Maybe he ran away from home, got lost, or his family abandoned him. With the economy the way it is these days, a lot of families just can’t afford a dog anymore. Some move away and leave the dog behind, others just dump them onto the streets.” She shook her head and sighed. “We get nearly 60 dogs a week here. Now since we’re a county shelter, we cover a lot of land. But our facilities can’t handle 60 new dogs a week. So most of them have to be put down…”
We all stood silently while the little fella wagged his tail and explored around the pen.
“I’ll leave you two alone with your new friend now. Holler if you need anything.”
We thanked her as she walked off. The little fella sniffed in her direction, then turned to us and licked our fingers.
“He’s warming up to us!” we chuckled. His tongue was ticklish. Then he was off exploring again. What a mighty curious little fella. We watched him silently, smiling every time he wandered over to us. The attendant had given us some chicken-flavored treats, which we used to reward the little fella whenever he came by us.
“What do you think so far?” I asked.
As if on queue, he sealed the deal for himself. He went up to Mia and placed his head on her lap. She melted. “Awww I love him!”
I smiled. “Me too.”
“What do you want to name him?”
“How about… Mocha?”
She smiled. “That’s cute.” She reached down and scratched his chin. “Hi Mocha!” He looked back. “Hi Mocha,” she said again. He licked her fingers.
Looks like the right dog just came along. Hi Mocha!
