Shaggy’s Journey
Shaggy arrived at Project POOCH on June 10. He was in rough shape. His fur was matted with sticks, dirt, rocks, and feces, and it was so overgrown that he could barely see. He was also extremely underweight, covered in fleas, and very timid. At only around 16 months, he was a young pup, and it didn’t take long for him to begin coming out of his shell.
The youth workers approached him with gentleness and patience. In very short order, they earned his trust, and he began to open up them. He started to show his silly side and quickly became known as our resident goofball. We learned that he would chew up blankets or soft toys left in his kennel, as well as he would chew off a harness or collar, but we found some great tough toys made by West Paw that could stand up to his chewing that he loved to play with.
It was clear that Shaggy had never worn a harness or been a leash—the whole concept seemed foreign to him. So one of the first skills the youth began to work with him on was basic walking on a leash. Over the course of 6 weeks he went from zig-zagging constantly in front of you, to walking confidently on a leash. He learned the basic cues of sit and down.
The first ten days Shaggy was with us the youth diligently worked on clipping his fur a little bit each day. His matts were so thick that they kept overheating our clippers, so we had to do the work in small chunks. Once we got him clipped we were able to give him a bath. It was then that we discovered he was actually white underneath all the dirt!
Shaggy liked to play with just about anyone who came to the kennel—human or dog. There were a couple of dogs that didn’t like him, but he just loved everyone. The youth build a very strong attachment to him, and he had a variety of nicknames including “muppets” or “mups” for short.
On the day that Shaggy became available for adoption, we received an application from a family that had recently lost one of their dogs, and their remaining dog seemed a bit lost without her companion. So they were searching for a new pup to add to their family.
We had our first Meet & Greet at MacLaren, with the whole family. This gave the youth handlers the opportunity to meet the prospective family for Shaggy and to share all that they knew about him. The family then had the opportunity ask questions, while getting to know Shaggy on his home turf, and Shaggy had the opportunity to get to know his potential new family.
We love this part of our process as it helps the youth develop their public speaking skills, to work on engaging with members of the community, and to share their good works with the pups. You can see the pride in their faces as they speak confidently on the dog’s likes and dislikes.
The Meet & Greet was a success, so we proceeded to a home visit / overnight stay. Shaggy did great as he got a feel for the new space, and how we would fit into the home. He stayed for two nights and then came back to the kennel. Almost immediately, his new dog sister was missing him, as we heard that she seemed to be moping about the house without Shaggy around.
His new family then came to MacLaren on Saturday, July 22 to adopt him. The youth handlers got to put his leash in the hands of his new family and say goodbye, knowing he was going to live his best life.
It was hard to say goodbye to Shaggy, and we still miss him around the kennel, but we are so happy that he is now going to live his best life. The youth learned so much working with him, and he learned so much from them.