BostonPeter
OUR THANKSGIVING STORY
Yesterday we celebrated Noah's 9th birthday and today we celebrate Tucker's.
Tucker came to us six years ago today but it wasn't smooth sailing for any of us. Before I tell that story, I have some housekeeping to do with you.
Some of you know that since I joined Flickr 9 years ago I have used aliases for my and my husband's names. The funny thing is that without exception each time I fessed up to someone on our real names, not one of my contacts ended up choosing to call us Paul (me) and John ("Matt"), so I have continued the use these names. Actually, I think Madeleine is the only one who has once referenced our names in a Flickrmail.
You can attribute the deception to our shared discomfort with social media. We had a close friend who had been stalked in a very scary and threatening Movie-Of-The-Week way, so we agreed to aliases and no public faces. Despite my wonderful friendships with you folks, in all candor, we're both even more leery of social media and its potential hazards today so we're not going to tip this apple cart any further than owning up to names.
This afternoon John (Matt) shared with me a portion of an email he wrote in a broadcast he sent to his friends and associates on the occasion of our having adopted Tucker.
It was November 2012 when we decided to find another dog. Our sweet Briard-Border Collie mix, Jack, my best bud ever, had been diagnosed with tongue cancer and we were given a very short-term prognosis for him. We wanted Noah to have continuity in having a second dog here and it seemed time was of the essence. That was in November 2012 and we were blessed to have that sweet courageous guy straight through until the following May. We have no favorites, right? But Jack was my dream dog.
www.flickr.com/photos/23357726@N03/6947110223/in/photolis...
I've never gone deeply into how tense the early days were with Tucker (who was originally named, in the Connecticut pound from where we adopted him, "Curly Joe" ) and I won't torture you with details, but this was a siege that lasted nearly six months. Tucker slept with us every night behind a closed door and was kept in a kennel in the den when the other dogs were around so we could sit together as a family. The dogs were always separated. Sometimes Tucker stayed in the playroom downstairs but he was miserable down there and would howl and cry when left there; when we were going out we had little choice. Tucker went through training by himself and then with Noah. Each was neutered on the same day. Jack was eager to befriend Tucker, but Tuck was having none of it. Tuck had special perks like our walks together in the woods behind the house and our occasional rides together, just the two of us. He was lonely even when with us but we had to tough it out as a family.
Anyway, we brought Tucker home and he was so fearful and offensive with Jack and Noah that we feared for their safety. We were in love with Tucker immediately but brought him back to the pound the next morning with tears in our eyes.
John's message follows here and you know the rest of the story ... but for the rest of our lives John and I will be grateful for the reversal we made on Tucker and our having gone back to Connecticut to retrieve this sweet angel.
This is our favorite Thanksgiving story because we lived it.
JOHN WROTE ON THIS DATE IN 2012:
Well, it's been an emotional roller-coaster ride for the past two days. We adopted this beauty whom we named Tucker, from a town pound in eastern Connecticut and brought him home. As much as he loves Paul and me (and we, him) he didn't take to our two dogs and after a few fights (a couple with our senior dog who has medical issues) we had to take him back.
We were heartbroken as we told the animal control officer about the ordeal and hearing his barking as we drove away, pleading for another chance. This weighed heavily on our hearts and we both missed him yesterday. Today we realized we should have given him more time. Paul returned there and explained how we felt and Tucker was so happy to see him he was barking, wagging and jumping. The officer said she's never seen him this happy!
Paul brought him straight to the groomer and we have a trainer who trains state police dogs and will assist us. The vet will check him on Monday and update all shots as well as a neutering scheduled to help calm him.
We are hoping to adopt but will consider ourselves 'foster parents' in the meantime. His forever home will be with us if possible or we will interview the folks interested in bringing him into their hearts and home. Either way, we will never give up on him.
This is Tucker and he WILL have a Happy Thanksgiving! :-)
OUR THANKSGIVING STORY
Yesterday we celebrated Noah's 9th birthday and today we celebrate Tucker's.
Tucker came to us six years ago today but it wasn't smooth sailing for any of us. Before I tell that story, I have some housekeeping to do with you.
Some of you know that since I joined Flickr 9 years ago I have used aliases for my and my husband's names. The funny thing is that without exception each time I fessed up to someone on our real names, not one of my contacts ended up choosing to call us Paul (me) and John ("Matt"), so I have continued the use these names. Actually, I think Madeleine is the only one who has once referenced our names in a Flickrmail.
You can attribute the deception to our shared discomfort with social media. We had a close friend who had been stalked in a very scary and threatening Movie-Of-The-Week way, so we agreed to aliases and no public faces. Despite my wonderful friendships with you folks, in all candor, we're both even more leery of social media and its potential hazards today so we're not going to tip this apple cart any further than owning up to names.
This afternoon John (Matt) shared with me a portion of an email he wrote in a broadcast he sent to his friends and associates on the occasion of our having adopted Tucker.
It was November 2012 when we decided to find another dog. Our sweet Briard-Border Collie mix, Jack, my best bud ever, had been diagnosed with tongue cancer and we were given a very short-term prognosis for him. We wanted Noah to have continuity in having a second dog here and it seemed time was of the essence. That was in November 2012 and we were blessed to have that sweet courageous guy straight through until the following May. We have no favorites, right? But Jack was my dream dog.
www.flickr.com/photos/23357726@N03/6947110223/in/photolis...
I've never gone deeply into how tense the early days were with Tucker (who was originally named, in the Connecticut pound from where we adopted him, "Curly Joe" ) and I won't torture you with details, but this was a siege that lasted nearly six months. Tucker slept with us every night behind a closed door and was kept in a kennel in the den when the other dogs were around so we could sit together as a family. The dogs were always separated. Sometimes Tucker stayed in the playroom downstairs but he was miserable down there and would howl and cry when left there; when we were going out we had little choice. Tucker went through training by himself and then with Noah. Each was neutered on the same day. Jack was eager to befriend Tucker, but Tuck was having none of it. Tuck had special perks like our walks together in the woods behind the house and our occasional rides together, just the two of us. He was lonely even when with us but we had to tough it out as a family.
Anyway, we brought Tucker home and he was so fearful and offensive with Jack and Noah that we feared for their safety. We were in love with Tucker immediately but brought him back to the pound the next morning with tears in our eyes.
John's message follows here and you know the rest of the story ... but for the rest of our lives John and I will be grateful for the reversal we made on Tucker and our having gone back to Connecticut to retrieve this sweet angel.
This is our favorite Thanksgiving story because we lived it.
JOHN WROTE ON THIS DATE IN 2012:
Well, it's been an emotional roller-coaster ride for the past two days. We adopted this beauty whom we named Tucker, from a town pound in eastern Connecticut and brought him home. As much as he loves Paul and me (and we, him) he didn't take to our two dogs and after a few fights (a couple with our senior dog who has medical issues) we had to take him back.
We were heartbroken as we told the animal control officer about the ordeal and hearing his barking as we drove away, pleading for another chance. This weighed heavily on our hearts and we both missed him yesterday. Today we realized we should have given him more time. Paul returned there and explained how we felt and Tucker was so happy to see him he was barking, wagging and jumping. The officer said she's never seen him this happy!
Paul brought him straight to the groomer and we have a trainer who trains state police dogs and will assist us. The vet will check him on Monday and update all shots as well as a neutering scheduled to help calm him.
We are hoping to adopt but will consider ourselves 'foster parents' in the meantime. His forever home will be with us if possible or we will interview the folks interested in bringing him into their hearts and home. Either way, we will never give up on him.
This is Tucker and he WILL have a Happy Thanksgiving! :-)