Duke the Dog
If you’ve known me for any period of time you’d know that for the last four years or so I’ve been itching to get a dog. Well I moved to Los Angeles and happened to move into a pet friendly loft. It took me about three weeks before I decided that it was perfect timing to add a 75 pound boxer to my life.
I found Duke at a boxer rescue in Los Angeles. They didn’t know much about him other than that he’s calm and seems to be good with other people and dogs. We wrestled for a few hours together at the kennel and then I decided there was just no way I couldn’t take him home. I signed the adoption papers and then the adventure began.
We got home and Duke was a bit nervous. He wasn’t quite sure what to do with the city life. Things like car horns, headlights, sirens and people all scared him. Needless to say, this made it quite the adventure when the closest patch of grass is a mile away on the lawn at City Hall.
Duke went to Texas with me to pick up some extra things that I had left in Milwaukee and my sister-in-law had moved down there with her. He did much better on the car ride down and was perfect as soon as we got to Texas. It was like he was a whole different dog. We both spent a few days in Alpine Texas and then headed back to Los Angeles with the highest of hopes. Unfortunately, as soon as we got back to Los Angeles he went berserk again.
It was decided that Duke just wasn’t a city dog no matter how much I wanted him to adjust. The problem is that I’m a city guy and we just weren’t going to work well together. Currently Duke is in Milwaukee and staying with my Mom’s dog, Indy. Indy is helping him learn how to play tug-o-war and fetch properly. He’s also teaching Duke all sorts of bad behavior like barking. In a couple of months Duke is going back down to Texas to live with my brother and sister-in-law in Alpine.
I’ll miss Duke but at least he’s not going back to the kennel. I guess I’ll just be making more trips to Texas.
One Comments
Indy is NOT teaching Duke all sorts of bad behavior, he’s simply teaching him how to express himself verbally, as any sensible boxer does.
They are terrific together and it’s going to be really hard to watch him hit the road for Texas in a few months.