Today marks one year since Chum snuck into our home. Chum was found in October last year running around on the airport runway. Fortunately no flights were coming in for awhile so the staff had a chance to catch him instead of just shooting him. He had a buddy with him at the time too. An airport firefighter brought them both to the shelter. Coho was adopted quickly. Chum's temperment was a little iffy so he stayed in the isolation unit a long time. Much debate was held about whether or not he was truly aggressive. He hadn't bit anyone, but he growled and snarled a lot. He was always carrying on about something. He liked to challenge people. He wanted to be the alpha of everything!
Then one Friday night in early December a very drunk couple showed up at the shelter with their equally drunk teenaged children! (nice, eh?) They claimed Chum was their dog and were demanding his return. Course they hadn't bothered to call in the 7 weeks he'd already been there. They were extremely abusive to the shelter staff and Chum could hear their yelling back in his kennel. He went as far back into the corner as he could and growled and cowered. Fortunately, he was in isolation and you can get out of that unit without going through any other part of the shelter.
He put up no fuss when I snapped a leash on him and walked him out to my truck. He jumped in without hesitation and rode all the way home with his head on my lap. The plan was just to hide him for a couple weeks and then adopt him out. Somewhere along the line we dropped the "adopt him out" part.
Once he got here and realized no one was going to hurt him, a different dog emerged. He felt no need to challenge his new humans. He still talks incessantly and growls about tons of stuff, but it's not an "i'll take your face off growl". He's just telling stories. We're working on his doggy manners as sometimes the other dogs don't know what he is carrying on about and chaos ensues!
He's a useless sled dog--too distractable to focus on pulling, but he's a great cuddle buddy! We're glad he stayed.
Happy Anniversary Chum!
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Chum, you've come a long way, sweetheart! I'm so glad you found your way to your very special, very loving forever family where you learned to love and trust once more
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