My best pal is a 13 year old Husky/Shepherd/Chow (?) mix. That is a 'best guess', but I get a lot of feedback from people that think he must have some wolf in him as well. Meet Moe-Moe. He was a pound puppy rescue. At the time I adopted him at 8-9 weeks of age, the shelter he came from was a high kill shelter. Now, I am very happy to say, it is a no kill shelter!
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| Some really good 'sniffs' on his walk today |
I had rescued my previous and first dog from this same shelter years before. She was an adult dog, brought in as a stray and her name was Honey. She was quite the 'singer' and loved it when my friends and I would howl with her. She would wedge herself down in between us and look at us from side to side as we all 'sang', Honey with her nose in the air, a perfect little 'o' shape on her mouth and the most beautiful 'OWWOOOOOOO-OOOOO-ooooooooo' you ever wanted to hear. This was special bonding time for her and she seemed to get the biggest kick out of it. She went everywhere with me and we enjoyed many happy years together before she went to that big playground in the sky.
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| Honey snuggled up to 'her' cat Buddy |
I had sworn, 'no more dogs!' after I lost her, but within the same 24 hour period, I was already thinking the house felt so desperately wrong without a dog, I had to go back to the shelter. For some reason I had gotten it in my head I wanted a female boxer. No clue where that came from or even why, but I remember having that stuck in my head at the time. I headed to the shelter the next day or so, and they actually had a full blooded female boxer there at that time. She was available for adoption, but already had multiple 'holds' on her. Having a 'hold' on an animal means that you have first claim on them, subject to the interview results, or if for any other reason you would choose not to adopt. If having failed the interview, the second 'hold' would be contacted and given the opportunity to be interviewed for adoption, and on down the line. I thought she was quite cute, but didn't feel with all the 'holds' already on her that this would be a good choice so I continued to look at the other puppies. All of a sudden, my eye was caught by this little roly-poly brown furball that was in a stall with several other pups. I went over to investigate and found his card with his information on it, but there wasn't a lot to be had, a name was about it. It showed his name was 'Moe'. I couldn't believe how adorable this little fat guy was! All the others were quite cute as well, but I didn't seem to take much notice of them. I went to find out if I could take him out and play with him and was told they had a separate room just for that.
I went back to get 'Moe' and called him to 'come here Moe' without even thinking. He did! None of the others, just 'Moe' came to the side and jumped up for me to pick him up and cart him off to the little room for our special introduction. We went in and played with toys and wrestled around and then I decided to try teaching him a few things. I showed him 'sit' while simultaneously telling him to sit. Within just one or two tries, he was responding to this command every time! We did the same thing with 'stay' and 'come' and he picked these up within a moment or two. I was so impressed by this little guy who was trying so hard to please me, he had hooked me for life.
I looked at his card again and saw that he did have a 'hold' on him as well and my heart sank. I felt a miserable ache in the pit of my gut and was just at a loss as to what to do. I had found my new best pal, this was
my little guy and I needed him just as much as, if not more than, he needed me, and someone else was going to take him home. I was starting to get quite upset. I went to talk with the person that had helped me earlier and they said to give them all my contact information and if the people with the 'hold' on little 'Moe' did not make their appointment in the morning, he would call me. He wasn't supposed to do this, as it wasn't the proper procedure, but he could see how distraught I was becoming and wanted to do something to encourage me. With that, hanging my head and not feeling very hopeful, I headed home.
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Here he is at the shelter on pick-up day!
Coming home!
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A long, slow, and stressful night dragged by for me, I was just sure I had lost my little one, but at least he would be getting a good home. The morning finally did arrive and when my phone rang, I about jumped out of my skin! It was the shelter calling and the people were not there for their appointment and...'this was against the rules, but did I want to go ahead and come in at their time slot right now?' Um.....YES!
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| Visiting at 'Grandma's' house his first day |
I thought the name 'Moe' was so cute and it seemed just perfect for him, so we kept it. He is now known as Moe, Moe-Moe, Moe-Mie, The Moe-Moe, The Moe-Mie, The Moe, 'Pesh' (as in 'special'), Bug, Itty-Bitty, and many other names, all of which he responds to and seems to know are his special names.
We've been together 13 years in March, he just turned 13 years old in January 2012 and is beginning to slow down. But, aren't 13 dog years the equivalent to being about 90 something as a human? He still loves his park and it is his favorite place to hang out in the whole world. He still loves to go down to the lake and 'bite' and 'kill the water dead'! And while his minutes per mile pace has slowed down considerably from an analytical perspective, he is still out there logging those miles and I will continue to let and encourage him to do so for as long as it is comfortable and pleasing to him.
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| The ride home after today's walk. He is one pooped puppy! |
