By Caroline Clemmons
Happy Independence Day Weekend!
In addition to celebrating the independence of the United States of America, we celebrate another occasion.
One year ago a neighbor called our youngest daughter to ask her to please come get a dog off her front porch. You have to understand that our daughter has a way with animals that borders on magical. When she went to the neighbor’s home, she found a toy poodle mix in a corner, shaking from fear. Fireworks were going off within hearing distance in spite of a light rain. She took the dog home with her.
When she told me about Baxter (yes, she’d named him), I said I wanted him. She took him to the vet before she let him around her animals. Baxter did not have a chip, but was healthy. The vet estimated he was just over a year old.
He was not well behaved, in that he barked/bayed at inappropriate times. Each of the dogs we’ve had over the years has been a rescue, but each has already been housebroken and fairly well-trained. We were at a loss with Baxter. Our solution was to sign him up for a training class at PetsMart.
He was expelled because he bayed at the other dogs trying to play with them. Can you imagine how embarrassed we were? The trainer scheduled us for private lessons. They helped. Baxter loved them, I think because of all the special treats the trainer gave him.
Here we are a year later. Baxter is still rambunctious, mostly due to the breed part of him that is not toy poodle. He never tires of playing fetch—we do. Baxter is a good companion and sleeps on our bed with us and our two cats. Good thing we have a king-sized bed, right?
Hero gets up first each morning, but Baxter waits on our bed until I get up. Then he rushes to sit by Hero's chair. Baxter is a sweet and loving boy. I'm glad we have him in our family.
Help us celebrate a year with Baxter as well as Independence Day weekend.
Have you rescued animals?
I have almost always had Poodles, and the first one was rescued by my Mom's friend, but I have had other breeds and all of them were rescued. Most of them found me and just stayed.
ReplyDeleteWe don’t have dogs, but two of our three cats came for dinner and never left. I enjoyed reading about Baxter! Happy 4th to you, Hero, and your furry family.
ReplyDeleteI love Baxter's story! We don't have dogs, but two of our three cats came for dinner and stayed for breakfast...for years. Little did they know the indignities they would suffer at the needle and scalpel of the vet, but they run the place, and us.
ReplyDeleteBaxter is so sweet! I have never had one show up like that, probably a good thing, I guess.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cutie! We always had poodles, and now we're the "grandparents" of a Golden Doodle who is a total delight. Like good grandparents we love "babysitting" Freddie, and we also love when he goes home. He wore us out when he was a pup. He'll soon be 3 years old and has settled down a bit.
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