April Blues
By Teresa Burrow
We wanted to adopt a dog, so I searched the online resources for dog rescue groups in our area. I came across a dog that I felt needed us as much as we needed her. We filled out the application and before we knew it, April came into our lives. She was a mixed breed, with cattle dog in there pretty heavily. She was deaf and heart-worm positive, so she needed a great deal of care initially. The rescue group Trooper’s Treasures from whom we got her, helped us with some of the costs initially, and before long, April started hearing again! It was a beautiful moment when we first realized she heard us. She sometimes did not respond to noises the way you would expect. I think she just did not know what the noises meant. She became a vocal dog, whereas she had been very quiet before, never barked before her hearing was restored…except at deer and wild turkey. Now she finally associated the grunting noises in the woods with the deer, the animals she loved to bark at on sight. Now she barked when she heard them, too. Her hair would stand up all the way down her spine, at the very hint of a deer on our property.
April also loves to go. PERIOD. Anywhere, anytime, just say “let’s go”…and off she goes to the door. She associates words with actions now. Whereas before we used hand signals to communicate with her, now we use words and whistles. “Up, up” means to jump up on the bed, or recliner, or couch, just wherever she might want to lay down. She always waits for permission to get on the furniture. This is not something we trained her to do, though. She came to us with this notion that she must ask before getting comfy, no matter what. We encourage her to sit where she pleases, but she insists on waiting for our cue.
She gets treats in the vehicle, beef jerky! This started as a result of trying to make her feel more excited about her constant trips to the vet, but now it just means she’s special, so she gets the jerky just because.
April is a great companion and we can’t imagine life without her at this point. She loves trips to see nature, or water, or just to take a walk. She is quite flexible, she even likes tagging along to take the trash to the road for trash day. She does not care. She just likes being with us, and getting her special treats.
When we first got her, she did not like to eat very much, so we put cheese dip on her dog biscuits. She loves cheese. We also put shredded cheddar in her dog food. She now eats dog biscuits anytime they are offered, but she still expects shredded cheddar in her “dog salad” she eats twice a day, and it also includes turkey, yogurt…and a bit of dog food, too! She loves pumpkin and sweet potatoes, so her food has ingredients that she loves like this. This is good for her digestive system as well.
I could write about her all day, but I mainly had planned to tell you about this…you guessed it…a SONG about April, our dog! Of course I had to write a song about this magnificent animal! I may change it around a little in the future, but here it is for now. It was a joy to write about this splendid dog that is now part of our family.
