08.30.08
Meet Chester
I am happy to say that at the present time I am in the company of a new canine friend. He is approximately two years old, and he was rescued from the SPCA the day he was going to be euthanized because he had not been adopted in the time allowed. A woman who works for a veterinarian about 45 minutes from my home started a program in conjunction with the Vet. In brief, the vet agreed to take in dogs and cats who he and his assistant both felt deserved more time than the SPCA could give them.
The dog’s new name is Chester, and he is of the same breed as the dog I recently lost. There are many similarities between them because of the breed, but he is a unique little guy who has yet to bark. For the past four months, he has lived in a cage at the vets office, but they have made every effort to provide him with love, attention, and room to run and play. His breed is one of the most intelligent there is, and as a result of this many owners who adopt them, “aren’t smart enough to have them,” as the woman at the vets office said. I have found this to be very true after living with one for fourteen and a half years. It is probably why he was taken to the SPCA, and is likely the reason he was returned to this vet after several failed adoption attempts.
He is shy, but not timid, and within the first three minutes of walking around the yard, he flushed his first field mouse. He now has the run of a fenced in yard, which he was a bit intimidated by, and a house. When he approached the koi pond, he simply waked right in, submerged, surfaced, swam to the edge, climbed out, shook himself off, and continued on his exploration of the yard as if nothing had happened. He has kept Daniel and myself in his line of sight since we arrived home, and he makes every attempt to be in physical contact with one of us in some way, except when he falls asleep with his head resting on his “baby” – stuffed animal. Tonight will be the hardest for all of us, as he has new sounds and smells to experience, and he is in a new environment. He is also afraid of the stairs that lead upstairs to the bedroom. Hopefully one of us will not be sleeping on the couch with him tonight. His interaction with the cat was brief, as she disappeared into the basement the moment she saw him. Thankfully his fear of the stairs prevented him from following her, that and the basement door we closed behind her. Bringing him here is a lifelong commitment, and I have every intention of making this transition as easy as possible for him, as I do not want to see him go through another rejection.
The information I received from the Vets office we adopted him from was minimal, just the vaccination record from the SPCA. I also had asked for a several day supply of the food he had been eating so as to transition him to his new food. I forgot about that until after we had arrived home. The first thing he did when we brought him into the house was to go to my old dogs toy box. He sorted through the twenty or so toys there and selected seven. The ownership of these seven items has been permanently transferred to Chester and have been relocated to one end of the sofa where he staked a claim. Daniel and I have accepted this quite graciously in view of this period of transition we are all experiencing. He has growled a few times when I have approach him to protect his toys and I have backed away. These moments are brief and quickly forgotten when we go for walks on the leash within the fenced in yard. I am being cautious so as to prevent him from hurting himself. He is still exploring his new world, but with time he (and we) will adjust.
Wish us luck tonight.
O.P.W.
Meet Chester
