Adventures in Puppysitting: Superheroes Need Rescuing Too.

Adventures in Puppysitting: Superheroes Need Rescuing Too.

September 29, 2010, 4:55 pm
Filed under: dogs | Tags: animal rescue, dogs, homeless animals, labrador, puppy, shady, shadytales, spiderman, superheroes, TGTB, this good that bad

September 25, 2010.  

 (Cue ominous, haunting music) The following story is true, though some names and immaterial facts have been changed to protect the innocent. Despite the shocking details, Shady, Melissa and TGTB opted to share this story as warning to dogs and families everywhere.  Don’t let those cute puppy faces out there fool you…they are not what they seem… (end ominous music, cut to peaceful house in suburbia on a sunny fall day)  

 Mom:  Ah what a lovely day!  It’s a perfect day for a play date don’t you think, Shady?  

Shady: What?  What the heck is a “play date”?  

Mom:  It is when you play with another dog, but the parents plan it ahead of time.  

Shady: What do you mean “another dog”?  I am an only dog…  

Mom:  Well, you know that little puppy I told you about?  The one my friend brings to our office?   

Shady: (backing away, glancing nervously to find her precious bone to chew and hide from this potential intruder) Ummmmm, yeaaa?  

Mom:  (turning away, mumbling in the other direction and forgetting that dogs have really good hearing) I think that, maybe, his Dad will be dropping him off here soon and uuuh, kinda, sorta,  leavinghimhereafewhourstostaywithus.  

 Shady: GASP!  Spiderman is coming HERE?! All day without his parents?!  

Repeat ominous music, fade to black. End Scene 1.  

Ok, well you might think that is a little dramatic but I swear it is true.  We had a 4 month old puppy in this house on Saturday. For the WHOLE NIGHT. You have all heard me say that it is getting a little  lonely now, being an only dog but let’s just say I am reconsidering that. Having time alone with one’s thoughts is underrated, it is really quite lovely to have quiet and privacy and the whole  bed to yourself whenever you want it.  

Spiderman is a black lab puppy that was recently adopted by Mom’s co-worker and his fiancée.   He came to NJ from a high kill shelter out-of-state and was the last of his litter of superhero-named puppies to be adopted.  He gets to come into work at their office every day.  I tried that a few times but it was not quite my thing.  Apparently if you go there, you are supposed to behave like you do at home.  They expect you to lay around and sleep, maybe talk a walk at lunchtime and generally be quiet and behave.  You know, like a piece of furniture. When I leave the house, I prefer to pace, pant, whine and bark incessantly so we all agreed I would just stay home. Forever. If Spiderman is making the office-dog thing work, I figured he  must be a total suck up.  

Spiderman, at the office. Can you blame Mom for letting him come over?

Now that I have met him, I don’t think that anymore. I do think the bar at the office must be set a little lower for puppies!  This guy was all over the place!  There is no way I could get away with that, at home or in the office.  He was all “oooh what’s this?”  and “can I chew on that?” and most annoyingly “why are you laying down? I am here to play!”  

“No, no Spiderman” I corrected him.  “You are here because you are little and your Mom and Dad desperately need a break had somewhere to go and would not in a million years did not want to leave you all alone. As it is, my Mom has you confined to the yard and kitchen and has removed all area rugs and pretty much anything that you can reach from the room. Let’s just make the best of things shall we?  I still remember how to play.  Just remember I am bigger, older and this is MY house. ” After that, most of the evening was a blur.  I will let my Mom finish the story…  

Hey, I saw it first. Give it baccckkk...Mooommmmm!!!

(Shady’s Mom here) …and so it went, the ground rules were set.  Don’t ask me what those rules were, though.  I have no idea what those two figured out while barking, rolling and running. Shady kept up with him alright, and even instigated a few vigorous sessions on her own when I think little Spiderman would have preferred to nap.  

Dude, seriously, what is going on with your ears?

Between the two of them, there was no rest and everyone was pretty exhausted.  Finally, after about 5 hours of rolling around the house and yard, they settled together on the same dog bed. Thirty seconds later and before I could get my camera out the doorbell rang. It was time for Spiderman to go home! Shady settled in for the night after that and did not move for 12 hours.  If she didn’t snore so much I’d have been checking her pulse.   

So, maybe our household is not ready for a new puppy of our own.  I must have called Shady “Nikki” a dozen times, I guess because I am used to two black labs and Nikki was always the big girl.  Now it was Shady being the big girl. It didn’t make me sad, exactly, but it put an edge on the hurt we feel knowing that Shady and I will never have our best friends Nikki or LoJack back again.  

Spiderman is welcome in our house anytime.  Having him around at work is a lot of fun too.  As for another dog in our family right now, we are both in  agreement that we are just not ready yet. The puppy experience is pretty interesting from this angle and we were thrilled to hear that my co-worker adopted instead of going the pet store route.  He and his fiancee are the “real” superheroes!  They actually set out for an adult dog but a smart shelter worker routed him to Spiderman when the first few did not work out for him…she arranged it so Spiderman never spent even one day alone after his last sibling (Batman, who else?) was adopted. Hey, they all need homes so that works for us.  We can’t wait to watch him grow up!   

You know what else works for us?  Telling these stories, fundraising for animal groups and hearing all of you tell us about your pets and rescue stories . For now, this is our best approach to helping the animals that still need their forever homes.  Please visit our website, www.thisgoodthatbad.com for more information on how we got started and what we might be able to do for you, your rescue, shelter or group. Don’t hesitate to leave a comment here or on or Facebook page either, we’d love to meet you.

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