Truffle, an overly plump chocolate delight, (who is working very hard on her new health and fitness program), has found her forever home with Dan and Ali. As happens every so often with our adopted Labs, Truffle, nka Scooby, got her paws on the computer, or perhaps even an old typewriter, in her new home, and took the opportunity to write her own story.
Here is her tale in her own woofs:
I’m a female brown lab. That I know for sure. But what I’m not sure of is how to write a biography. They say to use your past and present experiences as guiding principles for your story, but hey, I’m a dog and I’m not exactly sure what that means.
You see, my past is a bit blurry, and when I try and focus on those memories my mouth turns dry and pasty. I know I once had someone who took care of me, who fed me and occasionally scratched my neck, but then something went awry, and things got really bad and that’s when my memory fails me. I had a name, too, but I don’t remember what it was. What is clear is that one day I ended up walking around by myself, my owner / family nowhere to be found, and so I became tired, hungry, lonesome and very afraid. I kept walking trying to find water and something tasty to eat, but everything I ate was yuck and probably not good for me. Then one day I was taken to this place they called a Shelter.
The Shelter isn’t a nice place for an extended stay. There were lots of other dogs there, none of them wanting to be befriend me. My area smelled funny, and had a cold, hard floor. My brown nose told me that other dogs had been here before me, none of them giving good reviews. Although I was grateful to be indoors, this place really gave me the creeps. Yes, I would have an occasional visitor or two, but that thought was overshadowed by the tension filled nights spent listening to other dogs whimpering in sadness. This place stressed me out so bad that I began to lose hair on my nose and my back leg. Yikes. I was here for what seemed like weeks until one day this woman from the Lab Rescue Society put a collar on me and took me to her home.
She was very gentle and nice to me, told me that she would clean me up and that I could stay with her family for a while, but I would be put up for adoption. That was their mission. I’m not sure what that meant, but believe me when I say her digs were so much better than that yucky shelter place! So I passed the day in my new, temporary home sleeping as much as I could, welcoming frequent meals, while periodically re-locating the man’s shoes just because.
Then one morning I woke up listening to continued coverage of Super Bowl 50 on TV and being told that there’s a family in Denver who wants to meet me this afternoon. O.k., I guess. So that afternoon Velma loaded me into the Mystery Van and we drove to this families home where I was immediately greeted by a yellow, slimmer version of me. They called her Astro, and she seemed very nice. She had a lot of spunk and moved across the yard with sucha graceful ease, much like I used to do when I was in better shape. Astro said something odd to me that day – ‘you’re not swim suit ready.’ Not sure what that meant.
Before I could bark twice, I was adopted by this new family. The nice woman from the Shelter eventually drove away in her Mystery Van as I sat in the grass of my new yard. The details of my adoption are blurry at best, but I was thrilled to be with this new family, yet a bit sad to see the Van drive away because I don’t think I had the opportunity to lick her face and thanks for everything she did for me. She saved me.
My new family consists of a mommy, a spunky younger daughter, and a tall man with stubbly whiskers just like the ones on my snout. And Astro. I was immediately taken to a dog spa and given a bath with a blueberry facial. Oh how glorious! Then the whole family agreed on my new name – Scooby! What a short, powerful name – how fun! I’ll take it.
My recent days have been filled with periodic health checkups, a dental cleaning, and a repaired dew claw. However, that’s the boring stuff. The good stuff is my new mommy feeds me my medicine every day with peanut butter. She carefully lifts me up into the car every day and takes me to her office with Astro. She’s so gentle and kind to me! The young daughter wears several different outfits a day but somehow manages to make time in her busy day to hug me and kiss my ears. Mommy takes me and Astro on frequent walks too, feeds me meals every day at the same time, and provides me with an endless supply of cold water. With this new training regimen…I hear I’ve lost 6 lbs in 3 weeks. Hooray! Oh, Daddy is also very nice, too – he brought home two stuffed groundhogs from PetSmart for me and Astro. Have you ever had a stuffed animal groundhog? Stupendous. Astro and I bonded over the complete destruction of the groundhogs on the carpet next to the fireplace. I have a new pink rhinestone dog tag too, a new collar, and my own private, super cozy dog bed just feet from my new owner’s bed. It’s great to feel like a dog again.
So that’s it. My family is super nice to me and they provide me with all the care and snuggles I need. I can now continue on with my mission, which is to love my new family to the best of my ability for as long as I can.
My name is Scooby. I’m a brown lab, and I will be swim suit ready!