Viking

Well, we’re now dog owners!

It may come as a shocker to some of you, especially those of you who know I’ve had only one pet for the past 14 years – a bitchy, psychotic old cat named Wee Wee – but the truth is I’ve always liked dogs, and even though I’ve been severely bitten in the face by one, I didn’t allow that incident to foster a fear of them, as there are no bad dogs, only bad owners. In fact, I would’ve adopted one long before now if the Wee weren’t so possessive of me, but I didn’t want to deal with the hell I knew he’d give me if I brought another cat or dog in the house, not to mention the hell he’d give the poor kitty or pooch. (On two occasions, I attempted to adopt other cats – a kitten named Audrey and a grown female Calico named Lindy – but the Wee bullied them both so viciously I had to place them with other people. It took him an entire year to get to the point where he tolerated my husband and could hang out in the same room with him calmly and quietly without yowling or hissing, even though he’ll never exactly consider Josh as his buddy.)

So, all these years I’ve been content to play “auntie” to all my girlfriends’ dogs without adopting one myself. Until a few days ago, when a friend of a friend who works with Animal Action Rescue here in the Atlanta area was circulating an e-mail to see if anyone was available to give a 12-year-old mutt named Red a loving home. Some family’d had him for 9 years and abandoned him at their vet clinic when they moved to another city – dropped him off, ostensibly to give him his annual shots, and never picked him up. Indeed, they never even bothered to call the clinic to say “Oh, by the way, we aren’t picking him up” until after they’d moved to their new destination. Curious, I took a look at his photo, and something in his eyes and his sweet, hopeful old punim just made me melt. I decided I wanted to adopt him -- tough for the Wee, he’d just have to learn to deal.

Red ended up going to another couple, but the very next day, the rescue volunteer sent me info on another dog, a blind yellow Lab named Viking. Viking had been abandoned at Cobb County Animal Control by his owner, and since they keep animals for only 7 days before euthanizing them and nobody wants special-needs animals, he didn’t have much of a chance of being adopted before his time ran out. So Josh and I talked about it, and the next day we brought him home. Viking is remarkably well-trained and so gentle, friendly, sweet and good around humans and other dogs (he understands all the basic commands and doesn’t even flinch when he gets a shot) that we can’t understand how anyone could have given him up like that. I suppose it’s because he went blind, but according to my vet, dogs who are blind can lead a perfectly normal, happy life with just a little more understanding, patience, and training, and there are only a few VERY minor accommodations you need to make when caring for a blind dog.) His one issue is that he suffers from serious separation anxiety whenever we go out somewhere, which is totally understandable because he’s terrified of being abandoned again, and he’s blind (duh). We are confident that this will resolve with time, training and patience.

As for the Wee, well, he was horribly upset the first couple of weeks, which was expected. He flat-out tried to attack Viking twice, but we stopped it both times with a squirt of water right in Wee’s kisser and he hasn’t tried again. He just wasn’t getting it that Viking was blind and not a threat to him. But I think he’s finally starting to trust that Viking isn’t going to hurt him. Now he hangs out in the same room with him without freaking out or hissing at him unless Viking inadvertently stumbles into his space, which is inevitable from time to time, but I’m always at the ready to squirt the Wee with water the second he starts hissing and/or stick him on a table or shelf at a higher level so he can feel more secure and observe where Viking is and what’s going on in different parts of the room. And Viking, for his part, backs off immediately as soon as he hears him hiss. So far, things are working well. Stay tuned …