Rosco's Choice
As someone who loves animals, it had been a long time since I had a dog in my daily life. I had two cats for years, but I hadn't had my own dog in close to a decade. A few months before my ex-boyfriend and I broke up, we got a six-year old Beagle name Bob. Bob was amazing! I loved him so much and having him in our lives made me remember how rewarding it is to have a dog and how different it is from having a cat. My cats were amazing, but a dog is always in your face, much more present and dependent than cats. It's been said that people who choose cats for pets are not as codependent as people who choose dogs. I guess I'm a little bit of both, but I really enjoy the constant attention and love of a dog.
When my boyfriend and I broke up, he kept Bob. It was only fair because Bob was his dog. But, that didn't stop my heart from aching and hurting from missing Bob. Six months later, I decided that the best way to heal my broken heart was to get a dog of my own. And, that's when Rosco found me.
I began my dog search online. I decided I wanted an older, smaller dog because I was single and lived in a condo without a backyard, so the care of the dog would fall solely on me and would be a huge responsibility. I also decided that I would find my dog at the local shelter. There were tons of amazing animals at no-kill shelters, but I wanted to save a life. Our local shelter doesn't have the space or the resources to keep animals alive indefinitely, so I narrowed my search to the one shelter.
The first day of my search, I found Rosco. He was listed as a four-year old, medium-sized Beagle mix. He had this goofy look on his face in his online picture that made it seem like he was smiling. I liked him immediately. But, I was going on vacation the first week in January and couldn't get a dog until I returned. I told myself that if Rosco was still there when I returned, I would adopt him.
Life happened when I returned from my vacation and I was really busy for a few weeks, so I didn't revisit my dog search until the end of January. When I went back online to look at the dogs at my local shelter again, Rosco was gone. Always the optimist, I assumed he had been adopted to a good, loving home and began to look at other dogs.
One Sunday afternoon at work, I found Max online on the shelters website. He was a medium-sized, five-year old mixed breed dog. He was very handsome and had the most amazing eyes. My co-workers told me to go and get him that day, so I did. The dogs' building numbers and kennel numbers are available online, so when I got to the shelter I knew exactly where to go to find Max. He wasn't in the building number or the kennel number that was given online. I couldn't find him anywhere in that particular building, but Rosco was in that building.
As soon as I saw Rosco, I recognized him. He was still smiling. When I walked up to his kennel, he jumped up on his back legs and he started scratching with his paws on the glass of his kennel. I stopped for a moment and said, "Hi!" While I was standing there, he grabbed his bed from the middle of his kennel and began shaking it back and forth like a crazy man. I remember thinking, "This dog has a lot of energy. It's probably better I didn't end up getting him. He may be too much for me." Besides, I had come to get Max. As I walked away from his kennel, Rosco began barking frantically at me with the loudest, shrillest, hound dog bark I had ever heard. I smiled goodbye to him and went to find someone to help me find Max.
Max was as beautiful in person as he was in his online picture, but there were a couple of problems. He was not a medium sized dog like it had said online, but instead at 90 pounds, he was, without a doubt, a large dog. Living in a condo and having no backyard for him to run in, I felt immediately uncertain. My uncertainty was confirmed when I was told he did not like cats. He was an owner turn-in and his previous owners had told the shelter that he was vicious towards cats. Having two fourteen- year old cats that I adored, I was not willing to take the chance with their lives.
I asked the sweet woman from the shelter to come with me to see Rosco. He was as wild as he was the first time I had been to his kennel. The tired woman told me that he loved to walk and she tried to walk him every day, but it was hard with so many dogs in the shelter. She looked at his paperwork and told me that the reason his picture wasn't online anymore was because his time was up. She told me most dogs didn't last as long as he had. He had been there over a month. I asked her if I could walk him, knowing that any dog I got, I would have to walk since I didn't have a backyard. I know now that it didn't matter how my first walk with Rosco went because life had brought me to the shelter that day to adopt him.
Consequently, our first walk together was horrible. He was undisciplined and pulled me this way and that way and urinated on everything he saw. But, I knew just looking at him that he was already mine and we would figure out the details together. Since he was already neutered, I filled out the paperwork, paid the fee and took Rosco back to work with me that day.
I'd like to say that my life with Rosco has been amazing and perfect so far, but it has not. He is a high energy dog, very demanding and can be very destructive if he is not given the right balance of discipline, exercise and love. But, we're figuring it out as we go and he has taught me the value of patience and tolerance. And, even though our life together is not perfect, I couldn't and wouldn't want to imagine my life without him.
I'm not arrogant enough to believe that I chose Rosco. Rosco chose me. It took him months of a consistent routine and consistent love on my part for him to trust me. There were many times, in the beginning, when I'm pretty sure he didn't like me at all. He is not a typical shelter dog, all grateful and loving to the person who saved him. From the first day I brought him home, I knew he was just waiting to see if I was what he really wanted. Many times when I first got him, he would run out the front door or through the garage if they were accidentally left open for even a split second. I would have to chase him, hysterically screaming his name for what seemed liked hours, but was really only a few minutes, before he would stop so I could grab him and take him home. Maybe he just wanted to see if I really wanted him. Maybe he was testing me.
Rosco is not a dog who likes to give kisses. He is a manly dog and loves to be around men. But, for the most part, he is stuck with a woman who treats him like her little boy. I knew he loved me the first time he looked at me with his beautiful brown eyes and gave me a big ole kiss on the lips. And, he finally REALLY chose me just recently. I was moving out of my condo and I had people walking in and out, moving furniture. I was outside talking to some friends and someone had forgotten to shut the door. For some reason I glanced over to the door. What I saw amazed me. The door was wide open and there was Rosco, sitting inside looking out at me. He didn't run, he didn't even try to go outside. He sat there for ten minutes while I talked. As I walked over to him, his tail began to wag and his eyes lit up. I told him what a good boy he was and he jumped up and gave me a kiss. Now, when Rosco runs it's because we're running together. He's not going anywhere without me.
Rosco is truly a gift in my life. This past year, I had to put both of my cats of 14 years to sleep, due to illness. One in June and the second one in December. I had them since they were three days old and they were like my children. It's never easy to lose a pet, and anyone who has ever loved an animal, knows that they can never be replaced. Rosco was sent to me for a reason. Not to replace my cats, but to make the loss of them more bearable. And, his smiling face makes even the hardest days okay. I'm grateful he chose me!