After five months of living in a hotel, we've finally moved ourselves and our dogs to a new home in La Mesa. Room service and free breakfast can't really make up for the cramped living conditions and having to take bored dogs out every few hours. The new house has got a nice backyard and enough room to breathe. We were finally able to unpack our U-Pack pod that'd been sitting in store for the last five months. Not that we have much furniture - a few desks, a mattress, a dresser. We're both fairly utilitarian in the sense that we've moved around so much we don't have much in the way of physical possessions.
However, the dogs seem happy.
I first got The Kid back in the spring of 2015. I was almost flat-broke but I'd gotten some money back from my tax return, so I decided to put it toward adopting a dog. I must've searched through hundreds of photos when I stumbled upon one of 'The Kid', who was named Morty at the time. I don't know what about him in particular drew me to him, because I'd seen many adorable dogs before. Here's one of his baby photos:
We found him shivering in a corner of his foster mom's house, scared out of his mind. It turned out that he was feral, and had been found living in some woods around Texas. The lady fostering him tried to convince us not to get him, and to adopt a more sociable dog instead. He'd been adopted by someone with young children and they'd returned him because he wasn't allowing them to pet him, and he wasn't sociable like a normal dog.
But Robert and I know what it's like to be wild and misunderstood - so we took him, and renamed him 'The Kid'. When we got back home he ran out of the car and when Robert grabbed him, The Kid bit him. For the first several weeks he sat shivering and terrified, barely unable to move. But little by little he warmed up to us - he began to play and greet us excitedly when we got home. Now, except for being wary of people, he is mostly a happy dog.
Pris came afterwards, because we wanted to get a companion for The Kid while we were both at work. We rescued her from a shelter about a month later. We suspected that she was stranded in one of the floods that happened around that time.
Sunshine was the last dog, and we weren't intending to keep her. We at first thought she was a stray in the neighborhood. Robert fed her jerky and she kept showing up at our doorstep. It turns out she was owned by the people on the other side of the street, but they'd often lock the gate and leave her outside, not feed her, and leave her out in the rain. We'd take her inside and give her water and food, feed her jerky, and let her hang out with our puppies. Fairly soon she started waiting outside our fence gate all the time. Eventually she just ended up staying with us all the time. The neighbors came and got her once, but then promptly left her outside again, so we took her back. Weeks passed and they never came for her again.
When Robert got his new job we all moved to San Diego, California - me, Robert, Sunshine, Kid, and The Pris. It was a three day journey in a cramped P.T Cruiser, but we stopped at several dog parks on the way.
And then when we arrived in San Diego we introduced the puppies to Dog Beach - their new favorite hang out spot, where I take them several times a week.
Being an extreme introvert, having dogs has greatly enhanced my life. I'm learning to love things again, and to appreciate small moments - and since they love the outdoors, I've been seeing more of it. I've learned how to cook by feeding them dinners. And I even enjoy playing - chasing balls and frisbees and wrestling. It's like being a part of a big family, without having to really socialize or deal with propriety. When Robert was in San Diego for a month I'd close the door at night and the four of us would sleep on the giant mattress together, and I'd feel safe and at peace, surrounded by sleepy dogs, their breathing rocking me into dreams.
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Stock photo from pixabay
Self portrait by me canon t51
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