Thursday, February 25, 2010

Mischa Boy...Our Little Daydreamer



Once Michael and I bought a place, I wanted a dog right away. Gone were the days of "No Pets Allowed." I was met with resistance, of course. Michael didn't want some dog tearing up our new house and having accidents all over the carpet. I didn't blame him...but I still wanted a dog. I would look on KSL Classifieds everyday. I saw so many cute puppies, dogs that needed a new home, and rescued dogs who were just looking for someone to love them. I would have Michael sit next to me and humor me by looking through all of the ads...and then we came across Mischa's ad. It wasn't his breed that caught our eyes, it was his picture. Here was this little fox staring at us with big,sad,brown eyes.It was then that Michael and I were finally on the same page. I called the next day and said that I wanted him. The lady selling him told us that she raised sled dogs, and that his breed was actually a mix between a Shiba Inu, and a Miniature American Eskimo. Because of both mine and Michael's schedule, we weren't able to get him until the weekend, so we had a couple of days to wait and plan. We went to the store and bought him toys, food, a collar and a leash. We still had to name him though. Me, being the silly person that I am, got out the baby name book. Because he looked like a little wolf or fox, I asked Michael what those names were in Spanish. Lobo, and Zorro. My grandparent's had a little dog named Lobo, so that was out, and I honestly don't know why we didn't name him Zorro. I kind of like it now that I hear it, but we ended up calling him Mischa. Translation: Nickname for Michael in Russian...go figure. After we chose his name, we went and got his dog tag. That Friday, we drove up to Evanston to pick up the newest addition to our family. All this time, I was thinking that we were going to get a normal, happy puppy that would be rambunctious, and playful. I was so wrong. When we got him, he was already car sick on the ride down to where we were to meet to pick him up. He was so scared that he wouldn't go potty, he wouldn't look at us, and he threw up in the car. We got him home and he wouldn't move. He just laid there. All night. I cried. What was wrong with my puppy? I remember praying so much that weekend for him. I wanted him to love us, to be comfortable with us. But he wasn't. I was heartbroken. I felt helpless. Even though he is an animal, he is my little baby. I learned a portion of what it must feel like to actually have a child and to be a parent. He has since come out of being scared, but it is slow going...
These days, Mischa likes to play around with other dogs, but his favorite thing to do is look out the window. I will often find him behind the curtains, just looking. He is our little daydreamer...I wonder what he thinks about.

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