Thursday, October 11, 2012

Trying to Understand Dogs

We live on a boat.  We have three fairly large dogs.  Stupid.  I know.

I'd never owned a dog until Ruby came into our lives three years ago.  I'd spent 59 years without a dog, and now I had not only a dog, but a pit bull to boot.  Like many people, I thought that pit bulls could snap without warning.  They're vicious. They'll bite your face off.

To be sure, pit bulls are very powerful dogs for their size.  I wouldn't want to have one mad at me.  But honestly, I don't know how you'd make one mad.  Quite simply, they're happy go lucky dogs.  They love life.  They love to play, especially on the beach.  They're intelligent.  They're eager to please their owners.

We got Ruby as a puppy.  Chevy was a rescue.  Two years ago, Pamela had answered the telephone at the vet's office in Norwalk where she worked.  A woman on the line asked if Park Animal Hospital would euthanize her dog.  Pam asked what was wrong with it.  Nothing, was the answer.

"My son found this dog in an abandoned warehouse in Bridgeport and brought it home, and then he moved away and left the dog and I don't want it."

Pam knew that no ethical vet would euthanize a healthy dog, but she also knew that there are unethical vets.  Long story short, we now have Chevy.   He weighed only 50 pounds when we got him.   He's now an 80 pound dog.

Chevy was a bait dog.  He was used to train fighting dogs how to attack.  His jaws were wired shut so he couldn't fight back.  He has scars on his muzzle from the wires, and his backside is scarred badly from being bitten.  The tip of his right ear was cut off to mark him as nonaggressive and unsuitable to be a fighting dog.

Chevy is a delight.  He tries really hard to be a good dog.  He screws up all the time, like standing on the dining room table to see what's happening when we're docking, but he tries really hard.  You can't help but love him.

Recently, we purchased a medium sized crate for Olivia, the German Shorthair Pointer puppy.  If we leave her alone on the boat, she takes something of mine and of Pam's and destroys it to show her displeasure.  We set it up next to the sofa.   This is who climbed right in.


He's such a wonderful dog.  I've heard that rescue dogs are eternally grateful, and truly understand that they've been rescued from a horrible life and now have a loving family.  Chevy epitomizes that.  Dogs are smarter than I thought.

This morning, Pamela set a basket of laundry on the sofa.  Olivia jumped up and was rolling and rubbing her face on my bath towel.   Nope.  No idea why.

I'll never understand dogs, but it must make sense to them.

3 comments:

  1. You're my kind of people.

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  2. Give him a big wet kiss from Auntie Kate and Uncle Chuck! We miss them and you!!

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  3. Give him a great big kiss from his Auntie Kate and Uncle Chuck! We miss them and both!! And Rod and Patti too!!

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