Aaron’s Journey

Aaron came to us from Darlington, South Carolina, where he was slated for euthanization. He was an extremely shy dog when he arrived in late July, 2010 and he has made stunning progress since that time. As so often happens with puppies, some very basic needs were probably missing in his early life and perhaps what landed him in the shelter initially. Perhaps he had no opportunities for socializing, especially with people. We’re not sure. We know, though, that it took 6 months to get him “on track.”

Our handsome Autumn-colored Aaron is a charming, intelligent, well-mannered dog with luminous eyes and a deep passion for life. Please enjoy his journey through the many blog posts I wrote beginning with his arrival in late July 2010. In these short stories you’ll discover moments of laughter and tears, self reflection and self doubt. I learned a tremendous amount about patience and commitment, perseverance…. and mostly, love.

F ollow Aaron’s story from the beginning:

We have received word that we should be in White River Junction, VT at 4:30 a.m. So, we’ll be there. The coffee is ready, the crate is ready, tho it’s a bit small….
Oliver energy is everywhere… Jane and Jazz are well aware that something is going on. They know not what….

Scared? Yes. Nervous? Sure. Ready? Absolutely. We’ve done everything possible to be ready for this pup…. he’s checked out. But that’s perfectly okay….we’re checked in.
My first question? Whose dog IS this? Whose life will he change? Who is his person?

Day number 1 with Aaron. The early morning drive to White River Junction, VT is uneventful, yet I won’t soon forget the completely scared-out-of-his-wits dog we encountered at around 5:30 a.m.  A few folks are standing around with their new “love-of-their-life” rescues, cradling them gently in their arms.  Hmm. Not us. We’re here to pick up Beaver, now known now as Aaron. He won’t come out of his crate and when he finally does he somehow manages to scurry underneath the transport van, refusing to come out, makeshift leash wrapped noose-like around his scruffy neck. Ugh. Hub John remarks, “Great job, Mary Doane. You’ve chosen the most well adjusted dog here….”

We land back in Deerfield, NH at 7:30 a.m…. exhausted and a bit dazed. We knew that it would be too stressful to remove Aaron from the crate we brought with us, so we leave him in the cab of the truck until it’s time to transfer him into his “den”… the music room/office downstairs.

The set up we have works great so far. Aaron can remain in his crate for as long as he needs. Around 5 pm this evening, while we were outside enjoying some wonderful summer rain, Aaron came out of his crate and “did his business” in the xpen, which was a step in the right direction.. ..

Has the classical piano music playing on Pandora had any effect on him? I’m not sure. His pupils are still fairly dilated, but he’s seemingly very, very comfortable. Dozing, eating, drinking water, making some movement toward eye contact. He’s cleaning himself, which is a good thing. He really stinks…. bad.

He’s a tired, tired boy. But he’s young, and there’s this beauty in his eyes that truly, I’ve never, ever seen. We’ll see what happens. He’s a project dog, no doubt. But he’s somebody’s dog. For right now, that’s good enough for me.

By the way… I’m new at this blog thing. Things might be a little off….But that’s okay. What life doesn’t have a few little things that are a bit “off”?