This is a three-part post, the first post can be found here Dogs In My Life – The Early Years, and the second part here Dogs In My Life – The Adult Years. This post is not the final post about Dogs In My Life, at least I hope not! It is the final in this three-part series.
Smokey is sort of our first dog we rescued for the purpose of rescuing. We live in Maryland and Smokey came from California. His rescue was a nightmare. The short story is he eventually made it here. Smokey is a Siberian Husky. He was very afraid and un-trusting when he finally showed up. Our worst nightmare occurred within the first week of being here. He got loose and ran. We put posters, we drove around, we walked around nothing, not a phone call. Only an occasional possible sighting by one or another of the kids. About ten days into his disappearance a neighbor about 1/2 a mile away told us the dog is getting into his trash at night. What a relief at least we knew he was still in the area. I had been reading up on trapping dogs. Huskies seem to be the hardest to trap and if once trapped almost never venture into a trap again. I had built a trap from tips I read on the Internet. We set the trap up and pow! it worked the first night. Our cell service at the time was terrible at our house. We did not find out he was caught until early morning. Smokey tore the wire kennel up and escaped. I just knew we would catch him again. We reinforced the kennel and baited the trap with a large bowl of spaghetti. This time the neighbor drove over to the house to tell us. We rushed over and to our relief, he was still in the trap. We can now let him outside with a leash on and he will stay in the yard. Guess he decided he likes us and our food better than trash. For a Husky, he has been a great dog.
Rocket is a Belgian Malinois when I went to pick him up he acted like he wanted to tear me up. We managed to get him in the kennel. I placed my hands on both sides of his face, looked him in his eyes, and said, well I forgot exactly what I said. Whatever it was it must have worked I have been his most prized human and for about a month was very protective of me even towards my wife. He is a work in progress but we love him and his weirdness.
That is all of our dogs to the best of my recollection, up to this point in time.
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Mark Coulter