In the summer of 2011 my husband went to check out an estate sale. There he saw an old wood stove that he wanted to bid on for our maple sugaring hobby.
At this Estate Sale there was an old Husky wandering the property. The auctioneers announced that he was available along with all the other household items. My husband came home and told me the tale and how he felt bad for the dog. He noted how 18 month old Big Bro had gotten along well with the old dog. So I suggested we go back. My husband still wanted to bid on the stove and I wanted to see the dog.
He was arthritic, mangy, matted, and a bit aloof. I asked one of the family members about him. His name was Soco. He belonged to the elderly couple who had passed away. None of the adult children could take Soco because he was an alpha dog and didn't like the dogs the children already had. If no one took him, he was going to be put down.
The next day I went back with Pepper to see how the two dogs would interact. Soco was a bit grumpy when she got too close to him while he was napping, but they seemed to do ok. Pepper is the most docile, submissive dog so the fact that he was an alpha wasn't an issue.
We brought Soco home and showed him the grounds. We quickly rechristened him Soku because we didn't want him to be named after an alcoholic beverage (Southern Comfort) That night he paced and whined and howled all night long. No one could sleep. We tried putting him in the basement to at least have some distance from the whining but the old boy just got himself caught in odd places as he tried to escape so we had to keep rescuing him. Needless to say, it was rough.
The following day I brought him to a groomer who knew him. It took her all day to wash and comb him because of how stressed he was. But it revealed just what a handsome and majestic boy Soku was.
With him cleaned up we let him stay in the living room the second night, but he still howled and paced. I spent a good part of the night downstairs with him trying to get him to relax. He would rest for a short while, but then would return to howling and pacing.
The following day, unbeknownst to us, he pushed open our broken screen door and disappeared. After driving around frantically to find him, I came across him over a mile from our house trotting on the road back in the direction of his former home. He had a keen sense of direction, or perhaps it was just luck.
By the 4th day the howling and pacing still hadn't ceased. I was desperately calling all the local vets for advice and to see if anyone would medicate him so we could all get some rest. No one would do it, and his appointment with our vet wasn't for another 10 days. It was a hellish first week, but finally Soku relaxed and started to integrate into the family. We took him to the vet for the first time in years and treated him for his Lime disease. I think he realized, once he started feeling better, that living with us wasn't so bad after all.
In fact, it was Pepper that I started feeling bad for. We would take both dogs on walks but Soku got all the attention. That dog could turn heads of people driving down the road. They would slow down just to shout "beautiful Husky!"
Soku certainly wasn't an easy dog and he never totally dropped his grumpy persona. I can't blame him for it since at the ripe old age of 15 he lost everything he knew and had to start over. He was also going blind and deaf and had also been only minimally cared for for many years. I like to think we at least gave him a better home for his last days.
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