Introducing Dobby

Dobby is our new four-ish year old probably shih tzu poodle mix. We weren't looking for another dog, in fact we didn't even want another dog, but he found us.

On Halloween I was outside taking some reference pictures for my nano story when I saw him in the empty lot across from our house. I think I've seen him once before, maybe a few weeks ago maybe a few months ago, my brain doesn't like to remember silly stuff like that. A woman from down the street and I tried to catch him then to hopefully return him to his family but he wouldn't get close to us. He wouldn't let me approach him on Halloween either, even when I tried to give him a treat. I brought Scotty outside on his leash to let them sniff each other and that let me get close enough to check for a collar. He had one but it didn't have a tag, was tight, looked pretty weathered, and I think was actually a cat collar. It didn't matter though because now I was close enough to see how messed up his fur was.

So I decided to take him inside and clean him up. It's funny because just as I was opening the door Josh and my mom pulled up and saw me taking a random dog inside. I know they were thinking, "Oh my, Tasha's finally lost it..." I explained the situation though and they understood. He had so much crap stuck in his fur, it was ridiculous! Sandspurs, hitchhikers, and some kind of small, thin, pointy, black seeds that I don't know the name for. Not to mention the dirt and matted hair and how skinny he was. I immediately took him into the bathroom to give him a bath. Once he was wet my sister Sierra and I got to work picking all the stuff out. At this point I noticed he had some kind of sore on one of his ears and the end of his tail was broken.

After spending I don't know how much time doing that we gave up, the rest was too stuck in there to pick out. We dried him off and Josh came in with the scissors from his electric trimmer kit thing and started cutting out the rest. This whole thing took hours. While he was doing that I posted about finding him on Facebook and started searching for someone missing a dog of his description. Couldn't find anything so we decided to take him to the vet the next day to get him looked over and checked for a chip.  

Turns out he did have a chip. The registered owner lives several states away, but her daughter took him to Florida, and then her daughter (so original's granddaughter) was the one who lost him. We soon found out "lost" was not an accurate description. They only live one street over from us and were just neglecting him.

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Since we knew who the owners were we couldn't legally just keep him but I wasn't going to give him back to them either. Animal Control said we had to bring him to them. I have never in my life surrendered a dog and this was very, very hard on me. My mom and Josh took him up Saturday morning (that's my mom's leg in the picture they later posted on their website) and they said if the owners didn't pick him up we could come back and get him on Wednesday. They would be investigating the owners to make sure they were fit to take him back.

Well Wednesday got here and Animal Control changed their mind. They were giving the original owners from several states away till Saturday to come get him. The sucky thing is they are closed on Sunday and Monday so we wouldn't be able to pick him up until Tuesday. I about had a nervous breakdown at this point thinking of him stuck in a cage not being loved the way he deserves for so long. They wouldn't let us get him on Tuesday either for some reason I can't remember, but finally on Wednesday the 13th we officially adopted him and took him home.

It's not easy living with him and I can tell it wasn't easy for the previous owners either. However almost if not all of his problems stem from not being fixed or groomed. He marks all the time and escaped out of our backyard (something Scotty's never done) to elope with a chihuahua down at the park. But that's not his fault. Instead of just getting exasperated and not taking care of him we've taken measures to make it easier for all of us. 

The first thing we did after adopting him was make an appointment to get him neutered. Unfortunately the first one the vet had available was December 2nd. In the meantime we got him some belly bands and are basically cloth diapering lol. I can tell you after this I really don't think cloth diapering is for me and will stick to disposables if we ever get our take home baby. We've tried to shore up the backyard so he won't be able to get out anymore, but until he gets fixed he doesn't go out without a leash just in case. Scotty was in need of a haircut anyway so they both went to the groomer. Now things won't be able to get stuck in his hair so easily. 

Scotty loves having another little dog to play with. We play with him as much as we can and he has toys but I guess it just doesn't compare to another dog. They both seem really happy to have each other. It didn't take long at all for them to become best friends.

Action shot as Dobby jumps on Scotty.

Originally he was going to be Sierra's dog since her dog Frito is getting on in years, but I don't think either of them would like to be separated.

He's so sweet and craves attention and cuddles. Scotty will cuddle with you sometimes, but he rarely seeks it out. Dobby needs to be held and loved on which makes me even more disgusted with his previous owners for treating him so poorly. For the first few days after we got him back he would whine anytime someone would leave the room because he wanted them there with him. Thankfully it seems like he knows he's part of the family and we'll always come back now so he doesn't do it as much. He appears extremely happy to be here with us and I love seeing the big smiles on his face.