My First Rescue: Build-A-Bear

I used to spend my summers when I was a kid at my Nana and Grandad's house. My mom was a single mom for the majority of my life and worked full time, so this was a fun way to spend my summers. We would go swimming, build forts in the living room, watch food network, bake, play games, and my best friend would come over. We even had a water slide! I was living the absolute dream.

On this particular summer my nana and I were in for a surprise. Where we begin our story is with my Nana's neighbor. She came over to tell us that she could hear a dog whining in the backyard of the house on the right side of her house. So, my Nana and I went to investigate and sure enough there he was, this little black and tan dachshund mix shaking. Stuck in a cage too small for him, covered in his own feces, with no food or water.

Apparently, his "family" moved five days earlier and left him there. Remember this was in the middle of summer in the south. My nana opened the cage door, pulled him out, and he clung onto her for dear life. We brought him back to our house and gave him a much-needed bath. Once he was all clean, we set him down in the backyard and he took off. My nana and I just stood there with our mouths hanging open as we watched him run lap after lap around the yard. He would run inside, pee, run back outside. Run inside chew on something, run back outside. We couldn't catch him, he was wild!

But alas, I wanted to keep him. So, I called my mom, told her about this psycho dog and asked if we could keep him. She gave me a tentative yes most likely no because we already had a dog. She came to pick me up and met this little dog full of too much energy. Of course, I began begging her to keep him when she walked in.

As we all went to the backyard to catch up, you'll never guess what happened next. Almost as if he knew, he ran up to my mom, jumped up beside her, put his paw on her leg, and laid down. We all sat there stunned. We couldn't believe it. The dog we hadn't been able to catch all day was now just chilling on my mom's lap. As you can imagine, this is what did it. We ended up keeping him.

For 14 years he was by our side. He would let me dress him up (in Build-A-Bear clothing), paint his nails, play tug of war, and even drive him around our kitchen in a stroller with my baby doll. He sadly passed in September of 2020. He was hardheaded, a great protector, and a complete mess most of the time. I couldn't have asked for a better childhood dog. (I'm not crying you are.)

P.S. because I know you needed this bit of information in your life, his favorite piece of clothing was a white robe, from Build-A-Bear of course and his shade of nail polish was pink.

This little furry guy's name was Rusty, and we miss him every day. Thank you for reading my post and feel free to share stories about the fur babies you love. Until next time. Bye!