I cannot believe it has been a year since this little man has come into our lives. I still remember when Linus came to our house for the site visit. He came out of the minivan and he was walking with such a pronounced limp on his right shoulder, I worried that he would not do well in our house. We have a two-story house and he would need to do stairs each night, we have hardwood floors and he would slip on them. But there he was, that sweet little man with his wonky one up-one down ears, the blue tongue that is as long as his entire body, and that demeanor of, “I can take care of myself, I don’t need anyone” personality that I was so longing to break down. I was hooked. Before he was getting ready to leave, Papa Andy and I agreed, he was our little man, so we said we wanted him and scheduled a time to pick him up.
Fast forward to picking him up. We drive for an hour, well out of the city, down these long winding roads, onto a dirt road, thinking, “where are we going, and will we be able to find our way out again?!” We finally come up on the house and see at least six dogs out in the yard and we are looking and looking for our Linus and he is nowhere to be seen. We get out of the car and before we can shut the door a very impressive bulldog jumps in and proceeds to take over the driver’s seat and he isn’t going anywhere. Papa Andy is working on getting the bulldog out of the car, as I turn and Linus is at my back, acting shy, but I lift him up and put him in the back seat and whisper in his ear, “welcome to your new life my sweet boy, I promise you nothing but love and happiness from this point forward.”
The wonderful woman at the shelter who had cared for Linus
since January of 2019, came out with a bag of pills for Linus and was
explaining each one and that two more had been added as of today. We swapped out collars, she gave me the
information on his tracking chip, and we were off. We were on the start of this new adventure. Linus lasted less then ten minutes in the back
seat, before he decided that he wanted in the front seat and on my lap for the
remainder of the ride; so, this is how we made our way home and into our new lives
together.
Our lives together started somewhat chaotically, as Linus
had a reaction to one of the new meds on his first night. He didn’t sleep a
wink, pacing, panting, crying. I thought
many times during that night that I had done the worst thing, taking him away
from his dog pack family and bringing him to a house by himself. The next few weeks went by in a blur, little
man was getting used to us and his new home.
He had seen the vet and she went down the laundry list of ailments for
this sweet pup that I had already grown to love. He had a curved spine that was causing his hips
to be out of alignment and to have arthritis.
His shoulder had arthritis and was swollen and tender to the touch. His lungs were scarred and would not heal,
from years of pneumonia and neglect. He
was deaf, had cataracts on his eyes, his teeth were bad and several would need
to come out, and he had a thyroid condition; but on the plus side he was
heartworm free and the vet and staff thought he was adorable and instantly fell in love with him like we did.
Andy and I prepared ourselves that this relationship with Linus
could likely be for a short time, but in that short amount of time, we would
fill it with love. I read articles,
discussed with the vet all sorts options to make his life better through
medication, therapies, exercise; anything that I could think of to make his
life the best it could be. What we had
to learn was that we were never going to fix Linus, but we had to strive for a quality
of life where he was comfortable and happy.
Over the last year, we have had days that Linus was able to
walk and enjoy being outside, to days where he would barely move from his
sleeping spot. We have had vet visits
where the vet was astounded with his progress, to visits where we simply cried
and wished that life was fair. But what we can say for sure, is that our little
man has grown into a pup who no longer needs to hide behind a wall to protect
himself from the fears of his past. Linus proudly displays his sass to tell us
what he wants and needs. He is spoiled
beyond words and that is ok, because after all that he has been through he
deserves it. He no longer has the
personality of “I can take care of myself” it has become one of “come snuggle
me Momma or Papa Andy, I need love and a snuggle blanket …NOW!”
We don’t know what the next year holds for us, we don’t know
how much time we get with Linus; my goal is to be able to celebrate another gotcha
day and another birthday with our sweet little man, but we take it one day at a
time. One thing we know for certain is there
will never be enough time, there will never be enough love to give this sweet
pup.
So today we celebrate Linus and the day he came into our
lives. Tomorrow, we celebrate the day we
have decided to call his Birthday. I hope he knows in his heart how much he is
loved, how much he has taught me about perseverance, and how much he has taught
us, and the world around us, about the magical wonder of adopting a senior dog.
I love you my sweet boy, thank you for finding me and thank you for letting me love you
Momma Karen
