I’ve asked my niece, Sara, to share the story of her two adopted rescues in today’s Dog Tails.
It was March of 2017 when Micah and I decided to take a look to our local Humane Society. It only took us one trip to find Mr. Pickles, inappropriately named JD at the time, and we had him home within the week.
While we quickly realized that Pickles was going to be a sweet, cuddly companion, it took us just as little time to realize he had some issues socializing with other dogs. After many failed training attempts, we weren’t sure that our otherwise incredibly sweet boy would ever be able to have four-legged friends.
We spoiled him often for the next two years, buying him as many “indestructible” toys as he could destroy, accomodating to his expensive taste in kibble, and feeding him plenty of table scraps. We learned his expressive personality well, including his tendancy to dig through any trash you leave accessible, his habit of wailing at you when he wants your food, and his need to sleep RIGHT next to you – usually what one would consider too close, but for Pickles there is no such boundary.
It really seemed we had found the perfect dog, besides his aggression towards other dogs. While the aggression simmered down slightly in the years we had him, there was no significant improvement that would lead you to think Pickles could ever visit a dog park, let alone live in multi-dog household.
So, what did we do?
In March of 2019, we went to the same Humane Society we had rescued our boy from, and we adopted another dog. Surprisingly, after a couple of moody weeks, we had two dogs that were best friends!
The new challenge?
Miss Penny, named Poppy at the shelter, was infested with demodectic (non-contagious) mange.
Yes, instead of the pretty little girl she has grown up to be, she was covered in oozing wounds and flaky scabs when we found her. No amount of anti-fungal baths and other products could take away the stench of her infected skin, and the infestation made her incredibly swollen and lethargic.
While we had felt so compelled to help and heartbroken when we saw Penny at the shelter, we quickly realized we had taken on a much bigger responsibility than we had expected. Penny still has skin issues, despite the large amount of vet visits and failed products that we’ve tried, but she has managed to grow a lot of her hair back. We just recently found a medication that seems to be working as a long-term solution, but the progress is slow.
Despite her health issues, Penny has blossomed into a fun-loving, energetic menace of a dog. She loves to play with her stuffy toys, cuddle her stuffy toys, and she has a bad habit of eating both bowls of food if Pickles is running behind.
She has so much more life than we could have ever imagined when we first brought her home.
Today, Mr. Pickles and Miss Penny are weirdly inseparable, and we are incredibly grateful for both of our four-legged family members.
Inspirational Author 