Rufus

Families that foster rescue dogs truly are special folks.

I would like to tell you about Rufus, our Brussels Griffon. Rufus came to us after 2 other foster families didn't work out. In some ways he seemed almost catatonic, in other ways he was so fearful. He wouldn't come in the door we had to go out into the yard and pick him up, he would't go out the door either, he would tear out like something was chasing him.

He would fall down stairs, 3 of them. So we went out and bought him a large bed and a blanket and he knows that is were he can go, we tuck him in at night and he sleeps all night. He only ate in the morning for Stephen. In the evening I would put the bowl down and walk away and never look at him. The best thing we have done for Rufus is to take him to the 21st street dog park. There he met other dogs and began to let other people touch him. He's been to the groomer now and was the best behaved of all my dogs. We still had a hard time putting him on the leash at the dog park so we left the leash on him and he would drag it all over the park.

When it was time to go he would stand still and let you pick up the leash. It was like leaving the leash on him told him he was part of our pack. After Rufus walked around with the leash for a month I took it off and, voila, no more chasing at the park. I have a little Maltese/Poodle and Rufus attached to him from the very beginning, he followed Buddy everywhere. If we wanted Rufus to follow close, we would carry Buddy under our arm, and Rufus would follow.

Rufus has started playing with my dogs, but his tail wags still seem rusty. Rufus has vision loss in his right eye, and when the dog park gets crowded with people it's hard for him because he can't see well and he can't identify his pack. I've started using a clicker, the sound is something he knows is me and identifies it. All of this comes with liberal treats, chicken bits, pizza and especially steak on the fork.

Rufus now comes in with the pack and by himself. He sleeps on the pillow by the fireplace as close to Buddy as possible, but when he gets up he limps around for about 4 minutes, he has multiple bone spurs around each knee. Someday he will need rimadyl or something like that. He has started sitting on laps and will let you stroke him, but doesn't relax unless Buddy is on the lap too. Hopefully he'll have a forever home soon. He doesn't know what a cat is, but he likes kids so this is a plus. All of this really wears on you, but in the end it's all good!

Courtesy of National Mill Dog Rescue