When did you adopt your pet from AARF?: March 11, 2023
Pet’s AARF Name: Macaroni
Pet’s New Name (if you changed it): Mac
How is your adopted pet doing? It’s taken me two years to sit down and write a success story note. He’s a Border Collie, after all, and was 7 months old when he came, so we’ve been very busy! He came off the massive truck from Tennessee to Vermont 4 days before an epic snowstorm that buried us in 40” of snow. The plow couldn’t get to the house, and there was no power for days. Good thing he likes snow! What an initiation. Now, his first thing every morning is to have a snow bath, making snow angels and relishing the romp.
The two cats who lived here were not happy about being lunged at, so that was our first challenge. Finch and Molly taught him it was okay to be gentle with them. Now Ravi and Gita, arrived as kittens a couple months ago (and who lived with a Lab who allowed them to jump all over him), are learning to give Mac his personal space.
I do massage out of my home, so the first few massages were interesting. One woman had her arms hanging off the table and Mac decided to taste the massage oil on her arm. I was mortified. Thank goodness my client was amenable. Especially when I got in between Mac and the woman’s arm, and Mac decided then to resort to the other arm. Another time a client said “I’m not a salad”. She hasn’t been back. I’d rather have Mac than a client who’d rather not have a dog around. He quickly learned that chewing the leg of the couch in the massage room was not an acceptable activity while my attention was not on him. Very soon he got the protocol and he lays down quietly while the session is going on, and greets clients nicely coming and going.
My other job is elder care. I go to the home of a couple to help out with activities of daily living for a 90 year old gentleman. They have two dogs, one of whom is not very welcoming to other dogs. It was crazy for me to think I could care for a puppy and work all the time…. My solution was to take Mac to day care on the three days a week I was with my couple. I felt like a mom working to pay for child care. (I cried the first day I dropped him off). But it was a good solution for the circumstances, and gave Mac wonderful socialization and training, and we did attend specific training classes together as well. He has a few doggy friends. He’s not been around children much, so we still need some practice knowing they can be playmates too.
The first few times I approached him with a brush, he backed off like it was an instrument of mass destruction. Good thing his coat is glossy. We’re still working on that. The dremel tool I bought for his nails is getting easier too. Evidently he lived in an outside kennel before going to foster care. His foster mom (L.H.) did a great job introducing him to living inside.
He began his time here in his crate in the night times. He has graduated to snuggling in the bed (when the cats aren’t around). He is a pure love muffin – very sensitive.
Once we established some understandings, I felt able to bring him with me to my job. He has been home alone just a handful of times, for very short durations. It’s so great that he loves car rides, since I live in a remote spot. Now two years together, he has mellowed and sweetened so much. Soon the ice will melt off the brook and he will return to the warmer month activity of swimming and playing in the water. Frisbee is a year round activity (he’s amazing), and our daily walks in the woods keep us both balanced and happy.
We can’t imagine life without each other!
Thank you thank you thank you!
