My favorite place in this whole world is my backyard. I have a pretty big backyard where backyards are concerned but up until a few month ago I was not able to do much gardening for about 1 1/2 years. To put it gently, I had a dog that was just not right for our family that wouldn't let me garden. It sounds weird but it is true. We rescued this dog when he was just 2 months old. He is a chocolate Labrador and when we got him we were so happy. We had just lost our second dog in 2 months time to cancer and thought that it would be great to have new life in the house to help the kids grieve. We had our other dogs for 16 years and 11 years and we really couldn't figure out what to do to bring our spirits back up.
So the new dog, Ziggy, turned out to be a big handful. I had raised our other dogs from puppies and knew it was hard work but this time it was different. I almost felt like we had a "Marley" dog. I spent countless hours watching dog training shows, reading dog training books, and researching online what could I do to get this dog to fit in with our family. Ziggy would constantly jump up on the kids and scare them, he would jump up on the counters and grab anything he could get his mouth on and tear it up, he would chew up the kids toys, even chew books, and the grossest part is that he would eat his own poop. This is only a small part of the things he would do. I worked with him constantly and played with him at least 3 times a day and nothing seemed to work to get him to calm down. It was so bad that we had to keep him either outside or in the kitchen. And towards the end of his time with us he would even jump over the baby gate to keep him in the kitchen. It was really horrible. We couldn't live like that anymore. My kids were even afraid of him. I kept asking myself- my family and the dog have to have a better life.
Now to the gardening part of this story. When I would go outside to try and work in the garden Ziggy would take my tools and chew them up. He would grab any plants that were in pots and chew them up. So much for starting seeds for the garden. He would even dig up the plants that I had just planted. And he would trample on plants constantly. I found myself putting the dog inside the house just so we could go outside and play. The whole time I would worry if he was getting into something in the house.
We had him for over 1 1/2 years and nothing I did was helping the situation. I didn't know what to do. I decided to put him up for adoption. I made so many calls to vets offices, and kennels, and adoption agencies (which I decided was not the right option in this situation). And I couldn't get any responses. After 3 months I again was stuck. After much trying I need to get some results because things at home with him were only getting worse. So I put him up for sale. I hated doing this because I only wanted to find a home for him and I know there are so many dogs that need adoption. Funny thing is that the very next day after I posted my ad I had 4 replies. I went through them and talked to everyone trying to find the right fit for Ziggy. I did love him and only wanted the best for him. I ended up picking a single guy from Austin that had another dog already. It turns out that he fell in love with Ziggy. I did make the right decision and gave Ziggy to him without charging him. It didn't feel right to charge him for a dog that needed a home.
After he had Ziggy for several weeks we talked to him again and found out that when he takes Ziggy to the park and Ziggy is around other kids he gets a bit crazy. And my kids were around him constantly so he was always wound up. Ziggy is doing really good and I am so happy for him. I had always had dogs my entire life and never thought I would give one up but for us it just wasn't the right fit. We have since adopted another dog, this one is a 5 year old girl black Labrador. And it is a wonderful fit. She is really calm around my boys and she has free run of the house and yard. Almost everyday since we found Ziggy a new home I have worked outside in the yard. I had missed it so much and it had missed me. My yard was in terrible shape. When I get a few more areas cleaned up I will show you some before and after pictures of my great clean-up. But the best part is being able to go into my favorite place and relax.
No comments:
Post a Comment