“He’s a small to medium-ish dog,” the foster coordinator at the local shelter said when she called. (She knew I could only manage small dogs in my townhome.) “He won’t be any trouble.”
When I asked her to tell me about him she said, “I think he’s a lab mix, very shy. He’s in my office right now because I wasn’t sure how he would do with the other dogs.”
That Should Have Been my First Clue!
I made the trek up to the shelter to pick up Benny. When I arrived, this not-so-smallish dog was curled up in a ball in the coordinator’s office. He wouldn’t even look at me. We tried to get him to walk on a leash to my car. . .but he would not. Could not.
I had to lift him to get him into the car, and the poor baby was quiet all the way home. I wasn’t sure how he would do with my other dogs. Only time would tell.
I tried to analyze his breed and took several guesses, finally landing on cattle dog. Yep. I was sure I had a not-so-small cattle dog in my tiny house. But he seemed really sweet. Quiet, but sweet.
Hoarding Situation Survivor
When we arrived at my home, I was stunned to discover that Benny wouldn’t come inside. Oh, the other dogs wanted him to. But he wouldn’t come over the threshold into the house.
Turned out, Benny was from a hoarding situation. Not “stuff” hoarding, but dog hoarding. He was one of many, many dogs in that hoard and had never been inside of a house before. Or around people before.
Benny weighed 27 pounds on the day I picked him up from the shelter, but I could tell he was going to get bigger. Much bigger.
A Gentle Wooing…
It was March of 2020 and the weather was lovely, so I left the door open. I figured Benny could decide on his own whether or not he wanted to come in. By the end of the first hour he’d made it into the kitchen and was hiding under the kitchen table.
This went on for the first couple of days. He came out to eat (poor guy was as skinny as a rail) but went straight back under the table afterwards.
On the third day I happened to be sitting on the sofa, working on a book file on my laptop. Imagine my surprise when Benny walked up to the sofa, looked up at me with those gorgeous brown eyes, and then rested his chin on my knee.
I could hardly believe it! I reached down to scratch him on the head, and y’all. . .
He Jumped Up on the Sofa and Hugged Me!
I’m not even kidding. He leapt onto the sofa, put one paw on my right shoulder and another paw on my left and literally wrapped me in a hug.
(This picture was taken shortly thereafter!)
I was a goner after that! Benny was supposed to go on transport to Brooklyn but when the time came, I wailed like a mother whose child was going off to college. I couldn’t do it. Never mind the fact that Benny was now 72 pounds.
Oh, and according to his DNA, he might get even bigger! Check out these dog breeds. Wow!
All that mattered were those big brown eyes. And that hug. That amazing, “Please keep me forever” hug.
Benny is now one of many pups in my house. All of the others are tiny and he loves them so much. He runs and plays with the 9-pound chihuahua just like she’s a big dog. And trust me when I say that he’s a constant reminder of all that is good and right with this world.
So. . .yeehaw! Looks like my Benny-Boy is gonna be a Texas dog from now on!
Practical Matters
I won’t say that every moment with this big lug has been easy. Managing a big dog in a small space has had its challenges. (He loves to run and play and was a chewer in those first two years, so I had to replace a few items he chewed up.)
Benny turned up heart worm positive shortly after I got him, so we had to put him through the treatment for that, which was rough on both of us. And I had to hire a trainer to help him with reactionary issues around other big dogs. (He was still scared after that hoarding situation.) But he has settled in nicely now and is living the good life!
I’m here to tell you, I wouldn’t trade my Benny Boy for all of the pups in Brooklyn!