This is a post about my dog, Keely, whom I love and adore, and you have been warned.
I’ve had my dog Keely for, oh, five days now. This is definitely one of those “love at first sight” stories but I’ve already written that part. Nowadays, what’s interesting to watch unfold is learning Keely as an individual.
We do not know much about her past. She was not spayed when picked up and has evidence of mothering at least one litter in her life (she’s spayed now, though). She came from a “high volume” (kill) shelter down south, and was actually very close to being put down because she had such a strong, negative fear reaction to being handled or put in cages/crates that they thought she was un-adoptable. It was not aggression, but fear, that nearly doomed her. Why was she so scared? We’ll never know, but my heart breaks every day over it.
Fortunately, Tallahassee Big Dog Rescue stepped in, and Keely was fostered by Lorriane for nearly three months while getting heart-worm treatments, spayed, and chipped.
I have only had Keely a short time, but these are Keely things I have learned:
- She was probably house-trained at some point, as she’s really good about sitting by the door when she needs to relieve herself. Why anyone would invest that much energy into a mixed mutt but not spay her is a mystery to me, but there it is.
- She does not like cop cars. No, I mean, she really does not like cop cars. She’s somewhat of a car and people watcher in general, but if she spies a cop car (and remember, I live across the street from the Tallahassee Police Department) she will go on alert, and then do what she can to put me between her and the cop car. Mind you, dogs have pretty lousy eyesight compared to ours, so she has to be attuned to the differences like light racks on top of the car and the paint markings. It’s a peculiar thing for a dog to be wary of, and it makes me wonder…
- She’s definitely part Schnauzer, as a lot of people recognize pretty quickly. But she’s got wiry, ‘terrier’-like fur and a hell of a barrel-chested configuration, so I’m guessing there is a little wire fox terrier in there somewhere.
- While she likes sleeping on the bed with me, she’s not at all about being on the “inside”, between me and wall. She’s made it pretty clear by repeated deep paw massage of my stomach that she gets to sleep on the edge of the bed. Closer to freedom? I don’t know about that, but I do know my place.
- While the way her tongue lolls out of the left side of her mouth is darn adorable, the reason behind it is not: her lower left canine tooth and couple of others are broken off. If you know anything about dogs, then you know how freaking hard and strong their teeth are, baring tooth/gum disease — which she doesn’t have. It’s like her teeth were well taken care of for years and then something happened and she…got in a fight? Had something thrown at her?
- She’s smart. Not, like, “Lassie” smart but pretty darn smart (Ref. recognizing cop cars vs. regular cars, above). She’s adjusted really quickly to the idea that if I leave, I will come back, for instance. She’s housebroken, as I mentioned. She knows being fenced into the kitchen is not a life sentence. And…well, look. I’ve lived with stupid dogs — Hyperboleandahalf’s post “Dog“, while unfortunately replete with the “r” word, is nonetheless accurate to dogs with zero brain cells. That is not Keely.
- She is not fond of deer antlers but she loves bully sticks (is there a metaphor there? Let’s just not).
- She’s not afraid of people. Given what a lot of strays go through, that’s honestly surprising. She will be be shy for a few moments but always warms up to people quickly. She’s got a loving, open heart.
My speculation is that she was someone’s well-loved pet during her early life, then either got abandoned or sold or ran away. I’m not sure which story I would like better, they are all pretty heartbreaking, but hey, she’s here now. That’s what matters.
I’m looking forward to everything Keely — that’s it, just everything Keely.