Journey's Journey 4

What happens when you take an abused dog and show him love, give him a couch to sleep on and socks to chew?

Here is Journey shortly after having his first hip surgery, still terrified of me.

Here is Journey today. He's always in my face!

You get a dog who is so exuberantly happy about life.  The day I met him in the shelter I never pictured him bouncing off the walls with excitement, chasing my crew in circles in the back yard, or wrestling and snuggling with foster puppies.  I knew I could break through to him with time, but I never imagined the amount of love he would give back.  He’s sitting next to me as I type this, one paw resting on my leg, his pointy ear resting on my arm.  Those that know him love his wonky, lop sided ears.  He’s got a pointy one and a floppy one.

I was petting his belly a couple of weeks ago and felt the bullets in his stomach for the first time.  I felt three and they just roll around under his skin.  He just sat there and looked at me as I touched them.  I wondered what he was thinking.  Does the remember the pain they inflicted?

He will never fully escape all of his fears.  He has moments that are very scary.  He had one recently that broke my heart.  He’s quite the messy boy, a typical boy dog.  I had to give him a bath and he panicked.  He was shaking in fear.  Shortly after he was back to his happy self but after his bath I had to call my mom and cry.  I love him and will weather any storm with him but it can be exhausting on days where he reverts back to the scared Journey.  The look of fear in his eyes is heartbreaking.  I am glad I see it rarely now.  I have his love and trust and I feel that is an accomplishment.

I love the dogs that need to be rehabilitated.  Puppies are cute and fun to foster, but my heart is with dogs like Journey and his friend Tristan.  It would be hard for me to take another like Journey with the large pack I have.  It takes a lot of time, energy…

It’s absolutely worth it and I will save another soul like Journey again some day.  My female dogs are typical doggies.  My boys are velcro dogs.  They have their issues and they love their mom.

Here's my other special boy, Valentino!

Val is never more than a few feet away from me. If Journey and the puggie weren't sitting next to me right now, Val would be in their spot.

Journey has some bad habits we’re working on, but at least we can work on them.  I use to call him a lumpy.  Not because he is lumpy, but because he didn’t move much.  Now he doesn’t sit still. He SCREAMS with excitement when I wake up in the morning, when I come home and when I get out of the shower.  I think he likes me!

My mom stopped by on Monday and Journey came running over to her.  She couldn’t believe it.  She is the only other person he really trusts but he was slow to give that trust.  My mom is always around my dogs.  She hangs out with them when I do overnight pet sitting.  She stops by to visit and my dogs sometimes act more excited to see her than they do me.  I am so glad that Journey finally opened up completely to her.  He let her pet him without shying away.

These things may sound minor to someone unfamiliar with his story but they are HUGE accomplishments for him.

Journey says hi! He approves of this blog post!

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