An Open Letter to President-Elect Obama from Skippy

With Thanksgiving and our holiday open house coming up, I was a bit busy to write a post this week so I asked Skippy to step in for me.  I asked him to write about his recent meeting with Santa but he came up with this instead....stubborn mutt.

Dear Mr. Obama, 

My name is Skippy and even though the letters you usually get probably aren't from the four-legged kind, bear with me.  I'm here to tell you my story and I hope that will make it clear to you why a shelter dog is the only dog for the White House.  I guess you could consider it a campaign of sorts.

I was born a long, long way from where I live now - 1800 miles, give or take.  Most dogs don't travel that far in their whole life, I traveled that far in my first 6 weeks!  I was born on the southwestern side of Puerto Rico to a dog that, unlike many dogs in Puerto Rico, did have a home and human that cared about her.  Even though the human loved my mom, he didn't want us pups.  He wasn't happy about her having puppies and he didn't know what to do with us at first.  His friends told him to get rid of us.  We heard them talk of a place called Dead Dog Beach, not far from where we were born.  His friends told him to take us there, put us in a sack, and run us over.  That's what many people in Puerto Rico call "controlling the pet population."  The human loved my mom too much to kill us so he loaded us into a box one night and left us on the doorstep of a vet.  

At that moment I became the luckiest dog in Puerto Rico.

You see, not many people there care about dogs at all.  They run free everywhere and people don't hesitate to treat them very badly.  Even though we were cold and alone in that cardboard box, we were being given a chance.  At the vet, my brothers and sisters and I were finally safe but we didn't know it.  They stabbed us with lots of sharp things.  Even though we had food and warm blankets to sleep on, it wasn't very much fun.  We met lots of dogs there who had been hurt really bad by people who didn't want them.  The humans tried to help but they couldn't help all of the dogs.  When we were old enough the people who were taking care of us put us on a plane and sent us to Massachusetts.  The plane wasn't very much fun either.  We couldn't ride with the humans, we had to ride with the suitcases!  It was really loud and we were really scared.   When the noise finally stopped we met some nice people who took us to a place called a "shelter."

I met lots of dogs at the shelter.  Some were puppies like me and some were older and had lived at the shelter a long time.  On my first weekend at the shelter lots and lots of humans came there.  They walked outside my pen and some even came in to play with me.  That was a strange day.  At the end of the day, after all the people went home, all of my brothers and sisters were gone.  One by one, throughout the day, they had left with humans.  I didn't know why but I was all alone in my pen.  I had to curl up on my cot all by myself.  I was cold and lonely.  The humans at the shelter gave me some toys to play with but it wasn't the same.  A few days later the humans put a new puppy in my pen.  I was really happy to have another friend.  However, this new puppy was really scared.  She didn't like the humans and she would try to hide under our bed.  The humans called her Skittles because they said she was "skittish."  I tried to tell her that the humans were nice but she was from Puerto Rico too and the people there had been very mean to her.  You see, Mr. Obama, when she was a baby no one left her at the vet.  She had to live on the street, find her own food, and stay away from the people that were trying to hurt her.  She thought all the humans were going to hurt her.

Then something really cool happened....

That night, after I had met Skittles, two new humans I didn't know came in with the shelter lady.  They walked by a lot of the pens and looked at all the dogs there.  I was really hoping they would come into my pen because I hadn't had any humans come in to play with me in a few days.  Well guess what...they did!  I was so happy that I crawled right up into their laps and kissed their faces!  This is the best part of the story, Mr. Obama, because get what happened next...I got to go home with the new humans!

I've lived with my family for almost a year now.  I still can't believe my luck.  I went from a cardboard box in Puerto Rico to having my own toys, my own bed, and best of all, my own home.  You see, Mr. Obama, I've seen what can happen to dogs that nobody wants and that's why I'm so glad that someone wanted me.  Some people don't think that dogs are capable of feelings like appreciation but they're wrong.  My mom and dad will tell you I am the most grateful, loyal dog they could have ever dreamed of finding.  Oh, and so is Skittles, except now we call her Tessie.

You see, even though a lot of scary things happen in this world, there are some really good people out there who help puppies like me find homes.  Your dog is waiting in a shelter right now, Mr. Obama.  You see, all kinds of dogs need homes, even hypoallergenic ones.  You could go buy yourself a "designer dog," a labradoodlenoodle, or you could go to a shelter and get one for just a donation.  Afterall, I'm a spotted Puertopointahound.  

If change is so important to you Mr. Obama, step up and change the life of a dog who needs you.

Sincerely, 

Skippy the mutt (and proud of it!)

Tessie is One

Next Saturday, November 29th, is Tessie's first birthday.  It's hard to believe that our little puppies will not be little puppies soon.  Skippy turns one in January.  Tessie has had a big year and it is hard to believe that the scared little puppy from the streets of Puerto Rico is the same dog we live with.  She has made huge gains in a lot of areas during her first year.  She loves to go for walks and play outside.  I think that if she could stay outside all of the time she would.  She loves going to the beach, especially because she can dig holes wherever she wants.  She is a stuffed toy killer and can rip open and de-stuff any stuffed animal in a matter of minutes.  She's a great catcher and she loves peanut butter.  When she gets excited her whole body wags.

When we first brought our puppies home from the shelter

 on March 11th, Tessie was about three and a half months old.  When we went into the pen that she shared with Skippy, he was all over us but she sat in the corner and had to be coaxed over with food.  On her first night she sat on her dog bed and wouldn't come off.  We had to carry her to her water bowl.  Over time she became more comfortable.  After a few weeks she started playing with Skippy.  She was an adorable puppy with very long legs that made her a little clumsy.  She loved to chew on strings and would go after shoelaces, strings on sweatshirts, even my hair a few times.  We hand-fed Tessie for weeks to try to get her comfortable with us and with eating.  At puppy kindergarten she sat in the corner and would not play with the other dogs until the last class.  During puppy graduate class she did much better and made a good friend in the Golden Retriever that was in our class.  

Tessie has grown to LOVE other dogs.  She loves to play with humans or dogs and she is the fastest runner I've ever seen.  She "herds" Skippy when they play outside.  Tessie is still very scared of people she is not familiar with.  As scared as she has been in various situations, she has never snapped or bitten at anyone, ever.  She is a teddy bear and even if she was scared of someone, that person could pick her up and hold her with no problem.  She is the sweetest dog.  Tessie is also incredibly soft.  She has a thick undercoat, which we believe she gets from her Border Collie side.  She loves to be brushed and would sit for hours if you ket brushing her.  She did great at doggie daycare and has had a play date that she really enjoyed as well.  I can't wait to see her in the snow.  I think she is really going to enjoy it - another opportunity for digging!  We are so thankful for Tessie (and Skippy) because we were lucky enough to find two wonderful dogs.  We know Tessie's second year will be just as fun and exciting as her first.