Saturday, October 27, 2012

Duke's Gotcha Day!

Duke and Maggie November 2009

People frequently ask if Maggie and Duke are from the same litter, since they look alike and get along really well. Duke is a year younger than Maggie, and her mom was spayed after being rescued by Save a Sato. (They might have the same dad, as they were both street dogs with mystery dads.)

 Finding Duke was a little bit like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.


Mississippi spells FUN!



The first dog we met was a beautiful pit bull puppy, who was too hyper for Maggie and kept jumping on her even when Maggie snarl faced and snapped. Mr.Man and I really liked that dog, but Maggie wanted to eat her face. She did NOT like having a giant puppy that was already her size climbing all over her and wanting to PLAY nonstop!

This is Mississippi, she's available for adoption through Worcester Animal Rescue League (WARL). She's one and a half and has that same type of fun puppy personality as the dog we wanted to adopt, if Maggie would have let us. WARL is running an adoption special through October 31 where you get to decide the adoption fee, so go meet Mississippi or their other cute cats & dogs! They have a lot of sweet pit bull and pit mix dogs, Sierra recently earned her Canine Good Citizen Certificate!





Lovely Liana

We went to Buddy Dog to see the next dog, who was an adorable little chihuahua, very friendly and laid back. Maggie had no interest in this dog at all. Maggie likes most dogs, but completely ignored her, even though she was very polite.

This is Liana, she's available for adoption through Buddy Dog Humane Society. She's 8 months old and has a similar personality to the cute chihuahua that we met, as Liana loves other dogs and cats too! Like Maggie and Duke, she can be a little shy at first, but is great with older children and adults. Buddy Dog has all sorts of dogs, including hounds, labs, a purebred rottweiler, a pair of beautiful shepherds and quite a few cute smaller mixed breeds, including a pug/beagle mix. They have a lot of friendly and playful cats available for adoption too.




Maggie's laser vision detects good times!

 Maggie really liked a beagle/whippet mix that we met while at the B.O.N.E.S. Beagle Bash. When I saw a listing for a 1 year old whippet mix on the Buddy Dog site, I called about him, even though there was no picture. Duke wasn't even supposed to be listed yet, as he had just been transferred from another shelter. He had been labeled "fear aggressive", and the shelter had been talking about sending him back to Puerto Rico to live in a feral dog rescue for dogs deemed "unadoptable."

Luckily one of the people who worked there called Buddy Dog and asked if they would take him. He was there for 2 days when we brought Maggie to meet him. When Maggie saw Duke she sat right next to him like she already knew him. They went for a walk with no issues, so we let them play in the fenced area and they ran around together. Back inside, Duke jumped up on the seat next to Mr.Man, who said "What fear aggression?" We brought Duke home that day, on Halloween 2009.

Dog Fort!

When we brought Duke home he went right into Maggie's XL crate with her. (He did go into his own crate at night when we said "go to bed.") They're still pretty much inseparable, though Duke will sometimes go lay on the couch with Mr. Man or hang out on the bed with the cats, while Maggie is my velcro dog.

Maggie definitely likes male dogs more than females, which may have been part of the reason she didn't warm up to the first two dogs. There are so many great dogs at shelters, and the people who work there do such a good job at finding the right match; it really wasn't hard to find the perfect dog for our picky girl. Getting Duke was the best thing we ever did for Maggie, she loves having a little brother to boss around. The video below is them playing on Duke's first night home.

Best.Halloween.Ever.




26 comments:

  1. Happy Gotcha Day, Duke! I love hearing these stories ^^

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    1. Thanks, wish we could see some more Elka puppy pics!

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  2. What an awesome post, thank you for sharing Duke and Maggie's story!! :-D Happy, Happy, Gotcha Day (on Halloween) to Duke!! Those other two adoptables seem awesome, so I hope that they get their forever home really soon! Enjoy your Halloween and celebration time! :-D

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    1. Thanks, I was going to post on Halloween, but the WARL adoption promotion ends then & I figured a few days might help. You too!

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  3. Happy Gotcha Day Duke! What a great story of how you got him. You would never know that that video was the first night you brought him home. Maggie and him look so happy together. This was obviously meant to be! :)

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    1. It's weird, they are such a matched set and we got them over a year apart!

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  4. A big warm happy gotcha day to you Duke. We hope you have lots of fun and treats. Have a super Sunday.
    Best wishes Molly

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    1. Thanks, they've had chicken & cheese so far. I'm making baked sweet potato treats next, hope they come out okay...

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  5. What a great story! It is a good reminder to people that sometimes you have to look a little but the right is out there for you. We hope the other dogs all found great homes. Lee and Phod

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    1. The two dogs that Maggie met before Duke found homes pretty quickly. They were really nice dogs, too bad Maggie didn't think so!

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  6. Replies
    1. Thanks, love the Gandhi quote on your pittie post!

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  7. Great story! Happy Gotcha Day Duke!

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    1. Thanks! Your food review today made me sooo hungry, wish we weren't so far away!

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  8. Happy Gotcha Day, handsome! I know we had a similar situation w/Rufus and Teeny as you did with your potential pittie....hmm...must be a bad mix with the pitties and the hounds, haha. I'm glad you found such a perfect match tho! Makes me hopeful :)

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    1. The funny thing is that Maggie loves calmer pitties, she just doesn't like hyper dogs jumping all over her. She was so good with a polite pittie puppy boy the other day, they were playing while Duke was looking at them like they were crazy!

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  9. What a pair! They do totally look like they could be from the same litter. Isn't it great when you find the perfect match for your baby?

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    1. It's funny how they look alike, though Maggie is still skinny and Duke has chunked up. :) I love your 2, Braylon & Hades are both adorable but look nothing alike!

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  10. What a lovely story! Halloween will never be a horrible time for you ;) So Duke was originally from Puerto Rico? Is that quite common, for streets dogs from there to end up in the States? I know Bella (from Bringing Up Bella) is from there too.

    Happy gotcha day, Duke! Well done Maggie for spotting him! X

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    1. Bella is from the same shelter as Maggie and Duke! At least 3 shelters in Massachusetts take in dogs from PR when they have room; spaying and neutering programs have really worked to lower the number of homeless dogs here. The shelters also take in dogs from the southern U.S. and other parts of the country.

      Thanks, we're all lucky to have him!

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  11. Happy Happy Gotcha Day Duke!
    Barks and licks and love, Dakota
    http://www.dakotasden.wordpress.com

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  12. Happy belated Gotcha Day, Duke! We are glad you were gotcha'd into such a great home!

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    1. Thanks! It's really on Halloween, I just posted it Saturday because of WARL's adoption promotion that runs until the 31st.

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  13. Happy late Gotcha day!!!! I love that they are inseparable. We have never had any of our personal pets love each other that much, but hope to some day. Those sure are two cute adoptable!

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