A small white hope

Sometime in the late spring of last year, he found us. I'm not sure why my dad was where he was, I'm not sure how the puppy came to be there for my dad to see. But out in the middle of nowhere, they met on a lonely dirt track.

The puppy and the man.

Dad brought the puppy to me. I had been wanting a puppy for sometime, since my beloved basset crossed over to his next life. I'd looked at puppies from litters that family members and friends dogs had had. I'd looked at rescues and pet stores. I looked in the newspaper, I was waiting for my dog to arrive.

When he came into my life, I was where I am right now, in front of my computer. My dad came in the house, which in itself is odd for the middle of the day. He had a small white puff against his forearm. I'd teasingly asked him "what is that?" To which in reply he extended his arm, and I noticed it was a puppy. I'd been worried it was another cat, my dad has been known to take in stray kittens and puppies, and I always tend to be the one in charge of caring for these injured animals and finding them their forever homes. This time was different. This time Dad said to me "Call K about this little guy would you? I found him out in the woods."

But I had no intention of calling K. I took the filthy little ragamuffin into my arms and cuddled him close, as he was shivering and covered in bugs. "Were there any more?" I asked worried, because this pup was very close to the point of no return.

"I looked around all over on both sides of the road, I only found him." Dad made a sandwich and left after that, and I called my sisters to see "what Dad found." We decided to name the puppy Otis B. Driftwood-after our favorite character from a horror movie.

I knew almost immediately this was something special. He was more than a dog, that was for sure. It was my grandfather who decided Otis was part wolf, an assertion he was sure of when he seen the reaction of other animals to the pup. They were wary of him, some were downright terrified of three pounds of piddling puppy.

It seemed Otis had an effect on everyone who met him, when I took him to a neuter clinic put on by Red Lake Rosie's Rescue, the people seemed intent on spoiling him. Otis had a tendency to need to be around someone all the time, a trait I've never seen in a dog, who has some measure of independance-or at least mine do. This was only something I'd seen in herd animals-horses, cattle. Leading me to think he was indeed something a little more than dog.

I'd hoped that by having Otis crated overnight to wait for his neutering, it might break him of his seperation anxiety. I cannot begin to express my dismay when I arrived to pick him up, and he wasn't in his crate, but the volunteers of the clinic had kept him in the kitchens, and made him a special pallet on the floor out of an old blanket and towel.

It seems I was not the only one who couldn't resist his calls for attention and his need to be cuddled. Otis got neutered, he got his puppy shots, and the RLRR folks-even though I assured them I had sufficient supply of dog food-upon hearing the words "dog" and "food" deemed it not good enough and sent me and my now six pound puppy on my way with 30lbs of puppy kibble.

So, even though he got all the attention in the world from the RLRR folks, Otis still needed to spend a night or two in my bed with me, evidance to which has been posted to the left.

I've yet to decide on revenge on my sister for taking that photo, suggestions are welcome.

The only bad thing that happened with Otis being neutered was that he was given a dose of wormer. This shouldn't have been a bad thing, except that when I got him two weeks prior, I'd started him on a course of wormer. He'd been wormed twice in one month.

I was extremely worried about him, and took him back to RLRR a week later to make sure he wouldn't have any ill effects from the wormer overdose. Aside from losing weight from the runny poop, he seemed to be okay. I was told to give him brown rice and fiber rich food for a while to combat the runny poop. He didn't care over much for that and wanted his Boots & Barkley.