Journey to Rescue – Home!

photo credits – Nikki Audet and Deena Crouch

“I love the snow!!! I love to eat it and do everything I can in it!!! Who needs LA… not me!”

“Sleeping on my bed in the living room… snoring loudly! This is the life.”

“I am getting ready to go to the store. I am going to get a sweater or jacket today. This place is so cold outside I shiver, and I don’t even stay out too long!”

“taking my third nap of the day.”

“So I am only down to bones for things to chew. I have destroyed my kong toys and everything else. Does anyone know of another toy for me to play with that I won’t potentially eat?”

“Just ate my bed in my crate… it’s a new move.”

These are some of the recent posts on Nico’s Facebook page – Nico’s own Facebook page.  Yes, that Nico – the deaf Dogo Argentino whose life was saved because people cared enough to post his sad photo on their Facebook pages and network him out of a cold jail cell in Los Angeles County only 6 months ago.  That initial Facebook outreach began Nico’s Journey to Rescue.  This journey has been about love and joy and healing and transformation, not just for him but for everyone whose life he has touched.  He spent a brief time in San Diego, had a glorious trip across the country to Indiana and spent some time in foster learning how to be a pet.  Last time I wrote, Nico was about to go into surgery to have some cancerous growths removed.  Nico sailed through that surgery and was an honored guest that same week at a gala to celebrate stories such as his.

Bridget, Melissa and, of course, Nico

However the most exciting change in his life since that time is that Nico was adopted!  Nico truly had a home for the holidays as he moved in with his new family before Thanksgiving. Nico hasn’t become a super dog, saving humanity from ourselves. He doesn’t travel the world giving lengthy sermons on the evils of living the fast life on the streets in L.A.  He doesn’t even donate millions to local rescues from some hidden stash of cash.  No, he has become exactly the ordinary that we wished for him. He has become a house pet – a loved, pampered, integrated part of a family.  He chews stuff up, sometimes does things he shouldn’t,  loves his bath time, takes five naps a day, romps in the snow and pushes limits playing the deaf card.

Ironically, his new parents knew nothing of where he came from or his famous journey across the United States.  They were looking specifically for a deaf bully breed when they were told to look at the Humane Society for Hamilton County.  When they got there, they were surprised that the shelter was so concerned that they were there to adopt him only because he was “famous”.   They were certain they had misheard and that perhaps the shelter was concerned about someone adopting him for dog fighting.  It wasn’t until they got home from filling out the adoption application that they looked on line and saw the stories about him on the PetcoScoop.  This didn’t make them want him more or less.  Their love for him grew from meeting him. They knew that he would fit into their home and trusted that if it was meant to be, it would happen.  And it did.  Within a week of his surgery, Nico packed his bags, kissed his foster mom, Julie, thanks for all she’d done, and set his sights on suburbia.
 
Since moving in, his family has learned a number of interesting and very ordinary things about their new man. “He is a serious gas man. He had an event the night before he came home for good. He was given so many treats that he almost gassed us out of the room the first night. It was bad.”  They consider this gaseous nature to be his worst “habit” even though he can’t really control it.  They’re working on researching a way to stem this aromatic tide.  He pushed other limits for the first little bit, not knowing that his new parents had a direct line to his old foster mom/trainer.  They set down rules and wouldn’t let him get away with pretending not to know how to go in his crate for bed or stop chewing things he shouldn’t.  He is a voracious chewer and hearty pit proof toys are tested and discarded right and left. 

Nico’s parents are enjoying the challenges of working with a deaf dog.  Nico wears a vibration (not shock) collar.  When they make it vibrate, it is the same as calling out to a hearing dog.  It is mostly used when they don’t know where he is and they want him to come to them. He generally comes immediately and sits on their left side, looking to them for further instructions or yummy treats. From there he primarily responds to an elaborate set of hand signals and oh, of course, treats. He knows sit, stay (still working on that one), come, let’s go, no, lay down, heel and shake. Nico’s previous foster/trainer has made herself very available to his new parents for any questions or continued training.  He’s come such a long way from a street dog with no manners or formal training to where he is now.

I asked what a typical day looked like for Nico.  He lives an ordinary life for a domestic dog. But it’s this type of life that coined the phrase “It’s a dog’s life” so I’d say it’s not to be scoffed at.  He gets up about 8 a.m. and eats his breakfast (dog food and his Wei Qi medicine, mixed in wet food, from his holistic doctor for his cancer and his immune system). He goes outside for 10-20 minutes  for play time in the snow. He then goes back in for a nap until 10ish. After that nap, he plays inside and outside (depending on the weather) and takes short naps on his pillow bed in the living room or the rug in the office. At 3 p.m. he goes back into his crate for another nap until 5:30 p.m.  At that time he goes for a walk, has dinner and then plays until 9-10 p.m. At bed time he lays on his blanket on the bed until he gets drowsy and then it is off to his crate for bed. When he is outside he loves to say hi to his girlfriend, Cleo, the next door dog, who is a lab/pit-bull mix. They play and hang out with the fence between them. He has, to everyone’s amusement, attempted to mark her as his.

Currently this Southern California transplant is really reveling in his discovery of snow. Generally bully breeds aren’t too keen on the cold white stuff because of their thin coats, but Nico is fascinated. He’s taken a trip to PETCO and sports a nice warm jacket so that he can play outside to his heart’s content. He tries to catch the white fluffy stuff coming out of the sky or burrow in it when it’s deep on the ground. As it gets crunchy he eats it and then rolls to feel it crunching around his back. The smile that he wears when he’s playing in the snow rivals the brightness of the snow surrounding him. Both inside and outside he plays like a puppy with his parents. At six years old it’s about time he got to be a puppy.

Gotta get my beauty sleep in

After a rousing play time though, there is nothing better in his mind than cuddling.  “I will brush him in the office, on the rug, and he will sit on my lap when he knows I am winding down and getting ready to stop. So he plops down on my lap and I cannot get up. He then starts to lay on my lap. Those are the best times. He also loves to cuddle right before bed.” 

These truly are the best of times for Nico and we know that they will continue for the rest of his life.  That’s what a forever family is all about.