Rusty

My boys' are really wanting a puppy. Actually Dylan really wants a puppy. Brian and I love the idea of a puppy. We will eventually start looking into it. Although we know in the wee hours of the morning, Brian will be taking the puppy outside for us all. Jake is not so into the whole dog idea. Not sure why but he is content with Dylan just getting a hermit crab. I am ready for a puppy, as long as it is not a Dachshund. Its not that I am against that breed of dog..it is just that it reminds me of Rusty. Here is where my story begins.

Well, I must say I never thought I would be writing about Rusty in a blog. I think the time period is around 93(ish)? We were living in Berthoud and my grandma, Rene, lived with us. She had sold her house a few years earlier and had built an addition onto our house. She brought her horses along with her and it was perfect, since we had the land for them. I look back now and realize I took that place and time in my life for granted. It was a special place to live and I have so many good memories of my family in that house.

As my grandma was and still is an animal lover (she is 95!) she decided to adopt Rusty. I love dogs, but Rusty highly annoyed me from the get go. He was a licker. It doesn't matter what was going on..he was always trying to lick you--legs, arms, you name it. So, the only time I really interacted with this dog was to say, "Move Rusty!" "Get Away, Rusty!" Poor Rusty.

Another one of Rusty's fun traits was the he liked to roll in the horse manure. Awesome. With having all the horse manure right at his disposal..you think he would have stayed close to home. But no. That was not the case. For some reason, the lure of the other neighbors' horse manure was too much for him. So, one day the neighbors called and said, "I think your dog is here in our pasture." No one else was home, so, grandma called on me to help get Rusty home. Well, I wasn't going to walk up there. It was a good little jaunt up the hill and hey, if you can drive- why walk? I got in my car and drove over there. I spotted Rusty right away and jumped out to grab him...ahhh, disgusting! He had been rolling in the neighbors horse manure and was totally covered with it. Fantastic. And he was trying to lick me! This dog does not know when to stop. You think by the look on my face that there would be no attempt to lick me. How am I going to get him home?? I should have walked over with a leash! Well, I will tell you one thing-- he was not going to set foot in my car. Hmmmm..I am only 1 minute away from home and there is breathable air in the trunk. I gingerly pick him up trying not to get anything gross on me and put him in the trunk and closed it. I drove back home hoping grandma would not see me. Don't think it would be a good idea for her to see her beloved Rusty being pulled out of the trunk. I look around. Coast seems clear. I pull Rusty out and as I am doing so I see grandma's shocked face in her window. Oh no. Busted. I let Rusty loose and grandma comes out to see us. "Angela, she gasps!" I said he is okay--look at him. And there he was happily coming up the steps to lick grandma! Grandma definitely did not think that was funny, but she was a good sport about it. Now Rusty may or may not have been traumatized by the trunk incident. I don't know. I do think he definitely was traumatized by some coyotes (they took him on a wild ride) later on, but that is another story. He did get some redemption in the end. Years later, when grandma moved into an independent living facility, she found some great people to take Rusty. They absolutely adored him. He got dog massages and was treated like a prince!

Maybe I should have tried to like Rusty more, but one thing is for sure...I love my grandma. She is a pretty neat little lady. And I still love her compassion for all animals great and small.


This is my "I am tolerating Rusty" look