SoloRiver Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 As I said in another thread, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish a Happy Got Day to Solo. I brought him home on September 11, 2000. September 11, 2001 was the last time I posted a "Happy Got Day" announcement for Solo, for obvious reasons, and I wouldn't have except that I posted it late the night before. Solo and I have officially been together for nine years now. And yes, I do find it somewhat ironic that 9/11 is Solo's Got Day. I have had Solo for exactly nine years now. Anyway, it isn't Solo's fault that his adoption anniversary is also the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack ever made on the United States. If you weren't all dog people I would worry about offending you by commemorating Solo's Got Day today, but since you are all dog people you will understand that the fact that I am commemorating this anniversary does not mean I do not respect the gravity of the other anniversary or what it meant to us as a country. I am reposting the essay I wrote for Solo's first Got Day, September 11, 2001. I actually wrote this late at night on September 10, before the Twin Towers were destroyed. Solo's first anniversary began with optimism and ended with us sitting in our dark apartment watching the footage over and over again on the TV. I slept with the TV on for weeks after that -- it was too quiet at night when it was off, and I was too scared. I can barely remember what it felt like to be that scared now, but I do remember being scared. Anyway, here is Solo's first Got Day essay. It was interesting for me to reread this after writing "Walking with an Old Dog." Written for Solo on September 11, 2001. This is the one-year anniversary of the day I got the dog I didn’t want. It was a scant ten days after my heart’s dog died and he was nothing at all of what I was looking for in a dog. He was too big, the wrong color, the wrong gender – the wrong dog – but when the leash was offered to me, without thinking, I took it anyway. I named the dog a name I didn’t even particularly like. It was just the first one that came to me and it didn’t matter, it was as good as any other. It didn’t feel like he was my dog anyway. As the days went by Solo’s issues made themselves manifest one by one. I realize now that in a weird way I started to see Solo as an adversary. There was a part of me that just couldn’t believe the best dog ever was taken from me only to be replaced by a dog like this. Oh, I got so much advice. Most of it excellent. Some of it questionable. I solicited opinions from everyone I knew about what I should do with this dog. I solicited opinions from people I didn’t know -- rescuers and trainers and Border Collie folks. The contacts I made then, I value still. Deep in my heart what I wanted them to tell me was that I couldn’t keep him. I didn’t want him. I wanted permission from someone I respected to replace Solo with a “good” dog; I wanted to be able to mouth with perfect conviction that “it was the right thing to do” and “he would be better off somewhere else” and “he was the wrong dog for me.” More days went by, one week, two. Solo would not sleep and he wouldn’t eat hardly anything, either. I threw away so much uneaten canned food that I ended up with a maggot problem in the kitchen garbage. On trash day, after being paralyzed briefly with disgust, I hauled the entire trash can out to the curb wrapped in three plastic bags, hoping the garbage guys would forgive me. I bought a new one. I made the decision to try and find a rescue that would take Solo. That day, when I went out to get my lunch I bought Solo an entire hamburger with cheese and mayonnaise and fed him the whole thing. (Despite the hunger strike he was on, he couldn’t resist a hamburger.) I figured, he’s not my dog, it doesn’t matter anymore and how nice I am to spoil him. All the rescues were full. I amended my decision. I would keep Solo until a space at a rescue opened up. Another week went by. I realized slowly that I could end up keeping Solo for a very long time. I remember the moment I decided to keep Solo, no matter what. We were at Petco, in the food aisles, and I couldn’t find anything with ingredients I was willing to feed him (or that I thought he would eat). I turned from a bag of kibble to look at Solo and he was standing there like a dead dog – head and tail hanging limply, eyes glassy and blank. Drooling. Sides heaving, dry, dull hair. Every rib showing. He looked like he was waiting for someone to come and kill him. My heart finally opened. I dropped to my knees and wrapped my arms around him and put my face in his ruff. He wagged the tip of his tail, this little, tentative wag, like he was afraid to commit to it. And he leaned against me. I think I remember this, but I probably made it up because it sounds too perfect. Probably what he really did was just keep standing there, drooling. I can’t remember. I was too sleep-deprived. That was when I started putting him back together. It has been a year now. He is the same dog he was then. He is a different dog than he was. Both of these statements are true. Solo has come a very long way – you may not be all that impressed, given what he is now, but regardless, it is true. In the past few months, in particular, he has improved dramatically, to the point that most of the time I can almost forget that he ever had problems. He’s coming to events with me and going to school and running errands and really seems to be getting it as far as the sheep thing. He’s making friends with men he’s been scared of for months. He can be left alone for several hours, loose, without panicking. He’s happy and he smiles a lot. Like a normal dog. Will he ever really be normal? I doubt it. But I think he is capable of approaching normalcy – maybe asymptotically, but even so. I am no longer sorry that I have this dog. I am thankful for all he has taught me. Solo has taken me places I never thought I would go. He has introduced me to people I would never have met. All of the things I wish I hadn’t taken for granted with my last dog, I treasure with Solo, because we had to fight so hard to get all of it. I would not trade him for another. Happy Got Day, Solo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MicheleS. Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 What a lucky dog Solo is to have you. I'm guessing that you're feeling pretty lucky to have Solo too Your writings give me a lump in my throat. I can identify. When we got Chase, I had nothing to do with him for about a month. He was an emotional mess and having experienced *Gypsy the Wonder Dog*, Chase was certainly not what I was looking for in a dog. I wasn't mean to him, just indifferent. I'm admitting now that I had thoughts of taking him back to where he came from. I too remember the exact same moment that I decided that I would love him and do everything I could to make his life wonderful. Somebody's got to love him and it may as well be me. He's got my heart wrapped around his little paw now. No turning back, I love that dog Happy Got Day to Solo! Michele & Chase (& Gypsy too) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisK Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 A wonderful testament to a wonderful team.....Happy Got Day Solo......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaBluez Tess Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 What a lovely posting. It show your deep love for him and the long, wonderful journey you two have done. Please give Solo a pet from us!! He is a really good dog!! Diane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweet_ceana Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 Happy Got Day Solo... and Melanie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandra s. Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 Happy Gotcha Day, Solo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegy Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 Happy Got Day Solo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbc1963 Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 ::Sniff:: Your stories always stir up memories of my early days with my dog. I remember realizing, in the first couple weeks, that I did not know what I was doing with this very scared, very scary dog - and knowing that if I didn't figure it out, he'd likely end up euthanized. And it was the summer that Coldplay song "Fix You" was released, and I'd be in my car with the crazy dog, and the chorus would come on, "I will try... to fix you," and I'd just start crying, because I didn't know if I could fix him. Happy Got Day, Solo. Good boy. Mary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allie Oop Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 Melanie, I believe that sometimes those "less than perfect" dogs are really the best ones, because they make us try a little harder, give just a little extra, work to love a little more and that makes the hard fought tail wag or a small wet kiss a much sweeter reward. A very Happy Got Day to Solo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pansmom Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 Happy belated Got Day, Solo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pansmom Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 Happy belated Got Day, Solo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerus Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 I've read this essay more than a few times, and it leaves me sniffling every single time. Late happy Got Day, Solo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSmitty Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 I'm just now reading this, so happy belatched Gotcha Day, Solo! Melanie, that's a beautiful essay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRipley Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 I don't know how I missed this earlier... wow. Solo is so lucky to have found you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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