From commentor Jacy:
This is Wilson, sleeping on Nick.
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We just passed our one-year anniversary of adopting Wilson on August 28th. I wasn’t looking for another dog. We already had two who are old and set in their ways, and a cat who does not suffer fools gladly. But my daughter’s friend volunteers at the local shelter and she called to let me know there was a Boston Terrier who had just come in, so I went down to take a look. I felt no connection with the little Boston, and knew she’d be adopted almost immediately anyway. But as I was walking out, I saw a little dog at the back of one of the runs. He couldn’t get to the front, because the three larger dogs in front were all crowding the gate. He looked pathetic, and as I walked past, he just laid down and put his head on his paws.
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He was in terrible shape. He had a punctured cornea, was missing patches of hair from mange, and was about a third underweight. They had found him running on the highway. When I picked him up, he put his head on my shoulder and just sighed. Well, that was that. A year later he is glossy and fat, and his eye (much to the amazement of the vet, who thought it might have to come out) has healed with just a tiny, cloudy scar.
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Wilson is a terrible little dog. He jumps on the counters when you’re not looking and eats anything he can find. He once ate two pounds of beef jerky, followed by an entire box of snack cakes. That was a fun weekend. He must be constantly touching you, which means he must sleep under the covers with you, with his head on your pillow. If he hears something in the middle the night, like, say, the ice maker, he’s up with a fusillade of barks that would wake the dead. We’ve had to install a permanent baby gate to the living room, because we can’t convince him that that room is NOT OUTSIDE, and he insists on peeing on anything in there.
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But, also, Wilson is 17 pounds of sheer joy in living. Every bowl of kibble is a banquet. Every word of praise a sonnet. Every ride in the car a Caribbean cruise. The boys can carry him around like a dolly all day long and he loves it. If you go out to get the mail and don’t take him, the minute you come back it’s all, “OH, BOY, OH BOY, YOU WERE GONE SO LONG AND NOW YOU’RE BACK, IT’S THE BESTEST DAY EVER!” We are much richer for having him our lives.
Yutsano
Pour vous Anne Laurie, just because I care. I REALLY want to see this movie because A) it’s one of Satoshi Kon’s last works and B) it’s supposed to be a total mindfuck. Not quite Akira proportions, but way up there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMcVwXSvmBg
Keith G
Another great story as a ready for work.
stuckinred
Wake up with the Airplane. . .
RedKitten
Oh, what a sweet story. Yay for Wilson and yay for Jacy!
PurpleGirl
Nice story and cute picture.
Carnacki
Awesome story.
I think anyone who loves dogs will love this video.
Southern Beale
AWESOME!!!
These things always make me cry. I think of our babies, a few of them old and feeble now, and all the years of joys they’ve brought us.
bkny
oh man … a boy and his dog. what a terrific pic and story.
JPL(formerly demo woman)
Yeah! Wilson found a home.
El Cid
I’m sure that discussing this means you hate the troops and love Saddam and bin Laden.
People who don’t think we should look the other way at such minor things as rampant sexual assaults and DUI’s are a bunch of America-hating hippies.-
Svensker
Oh, what a heart warming story. And that pic… Good morning!
Linda Featheringill
@El Cid:
Sex and drugs and war.
The more things change . . . .
Kristine
I love these adoption stories.
Yup, that would have killed me. The sigh as he lay his head on my shoulder would have been the final nail.
FWIW, my adoptee Gaby claimed a corner of the living room as her emergency toilet area right from the start. I covered the spot in plastic bags and piddle pads, but she often avoids them–I think she thinks they’re a rug–so it’s hit or miss literally as well as figuratively. In her case, the issue is a combo of tiny bladder and IBD. When she has to go, she has to go, and 5-6 hours indoors is about her limit–my vet has the same issue with her chihuahua, so it may be a small dog thing. Big difference compared to King, whose bladder I am convinced has auxiliary tanks. Different situation from a boy dog staking claims to his room, I guess. Or maybe a glimpse into their past, and how they lived before…and perhaps a reason why their previous owners discarded them. Patience can be a scarce commodity.
bkny
@El Cid:
jesus, shades of vietnam (on so many levels). after years rebuilding the army, idiot son’s golden adventure has ruptured that progress.
the damage that administration inflicted on this country will haunt us for decades.
debit
That is such a great picture and a wonderful story.
WereBear
Wilson is so adorable. I’ve had pets like that, where their every emotion is written all over their bodies. And I love his name.
Athenae
Aww, kidlet and doglet.
Animals are just so completely devoted. You are their whole world. The sun rises and sets with you. It’s ridiculous how easily they love.
A.
El Cid
@bkny: Well, George H. W. Bush did declare after the bombarding and bulldozing of Iraqis in the first Persian Gulf War that we had finally “kicked the Vietnam Syndrome”, meaning that we’d use our military when & where we felt like it and we wouldn’t have to pay attention to the lessons we thought we had learned back then.
John Harrold
So I was reading this thing from the value voters summit which mentioned the following:
It seems as though repeal of DADT is on a cusp of sorts and it could go either way. I was thinking it might be prudent for Tim F or someone to start doing something for the repeal of DADT like what the blog did for health care reform.
stuckinred
@El Cid: Be pretty dumb if we invaded and then didn’t bomb them now wouldn’t it?
quaint irene
Wow, two pounds of beef jerky. I bet you made sure he didn’t sleep with you that night, huh? ;-)
Oh, and Nick is pretty damn cute, too.
TaMara (BHF)
Jacy that was beautifully written. You have a gift. And a big heart. Glad Wilson found a great home.
asiangrrlMN
Awwww! Wilson and Nick are such a cute pair! Such a heart-warming story, too.
@Yutsano: You forgot obligatory PUPPEH! That is the one movie of his I most want to see (I haven’t seen any) since all my dreams are nightmares.
El Cid
@stuckinred: Yeah, I guess you’re right. You know, if you’re going to drive an army out of Kuwait, you might as well destroy the nation’s electrical grid, water systems, sewer systems, and civilian areas, because, why the fuck not?
SIA
@Jacy, thank you for that beautiful story. I tear up when I read these stories, but I can’t stop reading them. I love your dog/boy pair.
txvoodoo
I love happy rescue stories. My 3 pups are all rescues, and bring me joy every day. This is Catie, our latest. We had recently lost our elder dachshund, and didn’t anticipate getting a new one, but the other 2 had become despondent and lethargic with their friend gone. We had Catie brought over for a home visit, and within 15 minutes, the other 2 were frolicking and playing with her.
Photo of Catie
All 3 of my pups
jacy
Ah, now Nicky has seen this, and he wants to know much he gets paid for being famous on the internets. :) Good thing he’s willing to be paid in LEGO. Luckily, as far as I know, Wilson can’t read.
Anne Laurie
@Kristine: Since Gaby is a spayed female (and may have been a mother, before you knew her) she may have the same “weak bladder muscle” problems that plague some older human women. Our late retired showgirl Candy was “incorrigible” about leaving puddles in the house unless she got a supplemental estrogen pill every week. Since Candy was so tiny,only 5lbs, we had to get her very-low-dose estrogen pills compounded at a local pharmacy that still sends us flyers marketing to ‘ladies of a certain age’…
Don’t know if your vet suggested estrogen supplements for Gaby, but apparently it’s one of those word-of-mouth solutions which hasn’t made the textbooks yet. They made Candy’s life a lot happier, though — she wasn’t a very clueful little dog (if she were a person, she’d have been Goldie Hawn) but it obviously confused her when she found herself standing in a puddle without warning!
Kristine
@Anne Laurie: Thank you for this info. I will definitely mention it to my vet.
chaseyourtail
Extremely sweet picture. Thanks for posting it.