Alex and his brothers had a German nanny growing up. Her name is Marita and she is very, very fond of Boxers. She runs a Boxer rescue here in Colorado called HoBo Care, and oftentimes brought one or two of her dogs over to Alex's house. The organization's volunteers meet at the shelter where the dogs are kept to walk them every Saturday. Alex and I decided to get involved, and one Saturday we went to walk with the other volunteers. We walked a newcomer, his name was Buster. He was barking (which Boxers don't do very much), pulling, and freaking out in general. We saw a lot of dogs that day, and Alex noticed one in particular that looked a lot like a dog Marita used to bring over to his house. The dog was brown and white, had a spot on his side, as well as cropped ears and a cropped tail. I didn't think much more about it and we went home. Marita called to ask how it was, and Alex mentioned the dog he noticed earlier. She called us again later in the day, saying the dogs name was Dandy, that he was a very good dog and we should consider fostering him. Next thing I know, Alex and I are back at the shelter. We met Michelle there (one of the women who helps runs the organization) and she had Dandy out of his kennel. She gave me his leash and we went for a walk up the street. The first thing I noticed was that he wasn't pulling at all...he was the easiest dog to walk EVER! We found that his ears were cropped very poorly, and there were scars on his face and legs. He was found with a pack of stray dogs in Kansas and was brought to a high-kill shleter. Once his time was up, HoBo Care was called which was how he ended up in Denver. He was soft too, oh so soft. Did you feel how soft he is? Okay, okay, we can foster him!
Over the weeks, we came to find out that Dandy had a rebellious streak. And by rebellious I mean that he was an asshole. He growled at people that were on the other side of the street of us as we walked, and he especially hated other dogs. And I mean hate. Like with a passion. Any other animal that challenged his masculinity (even if they weren't doing anything), he disliked. Miraculously, we found that he got along with Zohey, extremely submissive female dogs, and little tiny dogs. Ok, so he has a type. Don't we all? Needless to say, I did not sign up for a dog with a bad attitude, and I was afraid it wasn't something I could handle. We got a call about a week later saying there was a family interested in adopting him. As his foster parents, we had first pick. Alex wanted to keep him. I didn't. Truthfully, I wanted to keep fostering dogs and thought it was great that someone wanted to give Dandy a forever home. "Let's give another dog a chance," I told him. Although he didn't agree with my idea entirely, we took him the following Saturday to meet the family. They seemed to really like him, and Alex spent some time with the daughter of the prospective family. When we left, a decision hadn't been made, and Alex shared that the daughter had told him some things that didn't say very good things about the family as dog owners. She claimed they had given a previous dog away because he dug up their yard, which is something a lot of dogs do. Oopsies. Alex felt obligated to inform the organization. We didn't want a dog going to a home that was just going to be given up again. It looked like Dandy was going to be with us for awhile longer.
One day on my way home from work, Marita called. I was talking to her about my concerns and why I didn't want to adopt Dandy. I hung up the phone, pulled into the garage, and walked to the back door. As soon as I opened the door, Dandy was there with a huge smile on his face, wiggling his butt in excitement. I realized that there was a big smile on my face too. I took him for a walk, pondering the decision. Then I called Marita and told her that I had a change of heart. Alex wasn't home yet, so I had planned on going to the shelter, filling out the paperwork, writing the check, and coming home with a big bow on him. But before I could leave, he came home. I told him we had to go somewhere but that I couldn't tell him where or what was going on. At first he thought we were getting another dog, but he eventually figured it out. We promptly renamed him Coby, and are learning more about his mannerisms every day. He is definitely a handful, but has been a positive addition to our family. he loves to snuggle, and thankfully has calmed down a bit. He actually enjoys meeting new people now for the most part, although his defensive side still comes out once in awhile. He is SUPER spoiled, and I'd like to get another dog at some point to help socialize him. But for now, he is our "special needs" child. Check him out!:
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