This week, I got to yap with Ava Smythe, an energetic Shepherd/Husky mix who was born a Cali girl, and has had five human families in her 7 years! No woof! But everything ended up great for her, Thank Lassie!
Now she lives beachside. Soon as me and my assistant knocked, we could hear her clickety-clicking across the room to the door, barking, “Hey, Mom, somebody’s here!”
“It’s Bonzo, right? I figured it was you,” she grinned, as she approached for the Wag-and-Sniff. “Some of our neighbor pooches have been in your column and I was hopin’ I’d get to, too. Mom says I shouldn’t be pushy, but it’s so cool having you here, A Real Reporter takin’ Actual Notes. So, this is my Mom, Marcia. Just sit anywhere you want.”
“Thanks, Miss Ava,” I said. “I’d love to hear about your previous families, and how you ended up here.”
“First off I gotta say, even though I didn’t expect to move around so much, I was never treated bad or anything. It was just Unavoidable Circumstances. I was born in San Francisco. They got an ocean, too, but it’s not the same as the one here. I was just a pupster and my memry of my first family is sorta fuzzy. They were nice, I do remember that. But my first Dad lost his job and their house, too, like a bunch of other humans did back then.
“So, anyway, one of his co-workers took me. He was OK, too, but he thought all pooches should live only outside. WELL, I disagreed. I mean, sure, to play and Do Our Duty, but not all the time. So I kept running away. Not that I didn’t like ‘um. I just wanted to be an inside dog. I didn’t know humans have Rules About Stray Dogs. So I kept getting scooped up by the Authorities and taken to what humans call The Pound – that’s Dog Jail. Then my second Dad would have to come bail me out and pay a Fine. (Which means money. And humans don’t like to spend it that way.)
“Finally, he had Had Enough, and sent me to live with his sister. She was real nice, too, but she had a bunch of other dogs. Didn’t take me long to realize I was meant to be an Only Dog.”
By this time, I was so involved in Ava’s story I was forgetting to take notes.
“My fourth owner was another nice lady who had an old Lab. Well, I still had a lotta puppy in me and I always wanted to play. So I kept woofing and bouncing around, you know, tryin’ to get him to play. Not only did he NOT play with me, he also stopped eating, cuz I Made Him Nervous. I had no idea I was doing that. I felt really bad.
“And I felt even worse when I was taken to Dog Rescue and put up for adoption. Well, I didn’t know it at the time, but my Forever Mom, who’s bi-coastal like me, was in California, too, and she was lookin’ on The Web for a dog. And it had to have pointy ears, not droopy Spaniel ears, no offense.”
“None taken, Miss Ava,” I assured her.
“Well, we met at the dog park and Mom liked me and my pointy ears, Thank Lassie! So she took me home with her. She found out I love to retrieve balls! And that I’m a very good escape artist, I guess from all that running away in my youth. At first I was sorta confused about where I was and, when Mom was away, I’d escape and go to the dog park, cuz I thought she’d be there. So she had to retrieve me a coupla times before I got stuff figured out.
“That was in 2014. Later that year, we drove across the whole country to Vero Beach. Mom says we’re not Snowbirds, we’re Bi-Coastal Birds.”
“I bet you’ve visited lotsa of places.”
“Yep. On road trips with Mom: Palm Springs, Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Albuquerque, White Sands, Las Vegas, Sante Fe, Houston, Carmel, Death Valley, the Petter-fried Forest. I got a Stuffed Alien Toy in Roswell, New Mexico. I think travel’s broadening, don’t you, Mr. Bonzo?”
“Absolutely!”
“But I LOVE my forever home. Mom grew nice grass in the back yard just for ME! And I have lotsa pooch pals. My bestie’s Tess Patota! Me and Mom went to Palm Bay to root for Tess when she was doing Agility. I’m learning that, too. It’s sorta like playin’, but you have to be Serious.
“I go to the dog park a LOT! We play chase, and I’m always the chasER, NOT the chasEE. I also attend puppy camp at Paw Prints. We learn to Socialize, which means play nicely, with no Grrrs or Nips.
“I have lotsa toys. My favorite’s a stuffed panda I got from the lady at Dog Rescue to keep me company going to my new home.”
Ava retrieved the panda from under a chair, flung it up and caught it a coupla times. “I taught myself how to do this! And, Mr. Bonzo, lookit what ELSE I can do!”
She did several tricks and neatly caught the treats her Mom tossed. She even knew her right paw from her left paw for “Shake.”
“Hey, Mr. Bonzo, wanna play Tug-of-war? It’s really fun! C’mon!”
I was tempted. But I was working, so I couldn’t. Alas.
Heading home, I was thinkin it might be fun to be Bi-Coastal. Maybe start out slow. Like Vero to Tampa. That’s a coast, too, right? Then if it didn’t work out, I could just come right back home in time for supper.
Till next time,
The Bonz