I've learned so much from having a hard headed, fun-loving, ridiculous terrier in my life. I'm grateful for the trust she's put in me after her rough start, and I'm excited to see what adventures this next year will bring us.
Bedlam is having a minor procedure today to remove a dermal nodule from the back of her neck, good vibes are appreciated!
Bedlam is the culmination of more than 20 years of dreaming about having a Bedlington terrier. I read “The Soul of the Silver Dog” in first or second grade and fell hard for the breed.
Six years ago, while working in a local shelter, a filthy matted puppy came in as a a stray. She looked like a muppet with her wild tangles and her chin was a solid mat of burrs, but I recognized her immediately. A Bedlington puppy?!
Nobody came in to claim her (how?!) so she became mine, and I still sometimes look at her and am blown away by my luck. She’s everything I ever dreamed of.
I was suddenly overcome with the urge to draw a shelter dog I worked with years ago named Taffy. He was mischievous and didn’t really like other dogs, but he was a softie with me. Unfortunately, he passed away from cancer before he could find his forever home. At least I’m glad I helped make his last bit of time on earth full of love.
"Snuffy is the sweetest happiest guy. As the name implies he does snore like a freight train but you can't help but laugh at his antics. His tail never stops wagging. He loves other dogs and is fostering in a home with kiddos and cats and does just fine with everyone."
Εγώ είμαι ο Όσκαρ και κάνω χαρές σε όλους. Είμαι 1.5 έτους και 35 κιλά. Είμαι παιχνιδίαρης, κάνω γλύκες και μου αρέσουν πολύ οι βόλτες. Όλοι εδώ μέσα όλοι είναι φίλοι μου, αλλά θέλω να ζήσω επιτέλους σε σπίτι με τον άνθρωπό μου. Θα με βοηθήσεις; ΦΙΛΟΞΕΝΗΣΕ ΜΕ
My name is Oscar, I am cute and sweet. I am 1.5 years old and 35 kilos. I'm playful and I love caresses. Everyone in the shelter is my friend and I love them all, but I want to live in a house with my own human. Will you help me? FOSTER ME
After Chompy has to go back home, Raph mourns for a while, and then Mikey lovingly bullies him into considering something new. So he goes out looking at shelters, without really thinking he'll get anyone, and then he finds this dog. This skinny, frightened little dog covered in scars who's one step away from being put down. This dog who snaps and snarls and struggles to understand what's going on around her. A dog that people click their tongues about, going about how angry she is, how dangerous.
Raph sneaks the dog out of the shelter, leaving a note and some cash in the cage, and brings her home. The first few weeks are rough--the dog bites him, shits everywhere, tries to run away, barks at ungodly hours. But Raph just keeps at it, keeps talking to her gently and giving her the best food and making Donnie treat her for worms and getting all the fleas and ticks out of her fur. He puts on sunglasses and hoodie and a cloth mask (I feel like Covid protocols would be pretty helpful for the turtles once Donnie set something up to wear them without ears) and walks her as long as she needs, lets her sniff every damn things sight.
Nobody's ever seen him like this before. It's hard not to worry about him snapping and yelling, but he never raises his voice around the dog. He always touches her so gently, so carefully, even more careful than he is with his knitting needles.
Raph doesn't really know how to explain to them that it's easy to be gentle with the dog, because he understands her more than he's ever understood anyone in her life. He knows what it is to be angry, frightened, wrong, to bite because nothing else makes sense.
And maybe she starts to understand him, too, because slowly, surely, she begins to trust him. She wriggles into his bed at night, she eats his food, she goes along with potty training, she makes three whole days without trying to take his finger off. She howls joyously along with his music and gives him big kisses and starts biting him out of love, not fear.
He names her Hurricane, because she's unstoppable. And he wouldn't want her any other way.