Grissy was a breeder dog in a kennel here in Kansas and the State took her away from the breeder. There were about 45 such dogs that were put in the Lawrence and Topeka shelters. I worked with the State to find out how soon they would be available and darned near missed out on my chance to get her. I was told that Lawrence had the last two dogs and if I hurried over I might get one. When I arrived at the shelter, the person working told me that there was a cream colored female and a black and tan female left. He said the black and Tan female was scheduled to be put down as she tried to bite when one of the kids tried to pick her up.
I reached into the cage and saw that Grissy tried to push my hand away with her nose but had no intent to bite. In my calm assertive way I just talked calmly to her and picked her up, Once she saw that I was not going to do any harm, she licked my hand. I filled out the paper work and paid the fee and was told that the next day she would be at the vet being spayed and I could pick her up after 4.
Well, when I arrived at 4, I was appalled to see that she was in a concrete pen with no bedding and cared half out of her wits. I put her in the carrier I had with plenty of blankets and took her out of the noisy shelter. I brought her home to Rabbit Run and left her in our solarium where there was food, water and papers to go on. I left her in the kennel but the door was open.
For a couple of days she was never out of the carrier when anyone was near. I could tell that she was eating and using the newspapers I spread out on the floor. I decided that I would try to just be there to help her know that I was a friend. She let me pet her inside the carrier but did not try to come out. I gently pulled the blanket she was laying on out a little bit and finally she was moved clear out of the carrier. During this entire time, I used a clam voice and plenty of petting and ear scratching. She was not abused by her pervious life, she was more neglected and probably did not have regular petting.
I finally got her out of the cage with little coaxing and got her to lay across my lap. As I sat there and petted her, I continued to talk in a low and calm voice. One afternoon, as she laid there, I gently touched her tail and said that real dogs would wag such a beautiful tail. She started wagging it and from then on she was a real lap dog with a wagging tail. She got much better and would follow me around the house. We worked hard on the toilet training and it was more a matter of me taking her out on a regular basis.
Things went well for about a week, and one day Grissy and I were downstairs when Barbara came home from work. I had never really seen her bark at anything but for some reason, Barbara was an intruder and Grissy did not like it one bit. Once she calmed down, she would let Barb pet her but never was really Barb's friend. I wonder if the person that had the kennel had girls working the dogs?
I took a road trip to Idaho to give the dog to my brother-in-law. It almost broke my heart to give her up. I could tell that her new owner was kind of sick when it came time to leave so I slipped out the back door and departed. This next part was his story and I am only reporting it as I remember it. He said he laid down on the couch and Grissy did not get next to him as she would do with me. He said he fell asleep and when he woke up Grissy was from then on his friend.
Griseldis, Grizzy or Grissy is at the Vet's right now suffering from some kind of a spinal problem. I know she has had a great life and I hope she recovers. Either way, I hope that everyone has a dog somewhere in their life that brings joy to them. This has been a story about one such dog.
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| How could you not love that face? |
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