Grumpy- A Love Story
I got my first glimpse of Grumpy last February when I was at the shelter taking photographs for the FurBall. Although I had only a glimpse I fell in love with the whiskers, the eyebrows and the vulnerability. I couldn’t get more than a glimpse because Grumpy was so shy that his reaction to people passing by was to bark and escape through his doggie door, and then to keep barking and peeking through the door to see if it was safe to return. He was one of many dogs that had come to the shelter as a result of a cruelty seizure and he was considered unadoptable. With patience and a gentle approach Billy, a shelter worker, was able to touch him and Mary, a volunteer, had him taking treats from her hand. But he was still far from being considered adoptable. I couldn’t stop thinking about him. I’d stop by his enclosure every time I was at the shelter and eventually he came over and sniffed my hand. He wasn’t at all aggressive; he just didn’t feel comfortable around people. That didn’t really make him unadoptable, He just need a special situation and I realized I had that special situation, a quiet house in the woods with no close neighbors, an unused basement and a fenced in wooded yard. It seemed we were meant for each other. He had to be sedated for the trip to my house, but he adjusted quickly. Now instead of running back and forth from one side of his enclosure to the other he trots around the paths that he has created around the trees and through the bushes. He is no longer Grumpy, now he is Spooky Muldar Mc Dreamy, coming inside only to eat. And when he is inside he will apprehensively, but patiently, stand and let me pet him and brush him before heading back outside to enjoy his new surroundings- the trees, the sky, the rain and the fresh air.