 A Dog Named Blue
Blue, an
adopted rescue Wheaten Terrier,
at home with us in Minnesota
Blue is a clown, a private
detective, a night watchman, a backseat driver, a supervisor of fun
and games, inquisitive, and affectionate. He can perform leaps and
whirls like a pro and is nicknamed “Mr. Pogo Stick Dog” by my
daughter, Jen. He awakens with a twinkle in his eye and the day just
gets better after that.
But maybe I'd better
start at the beginning...
A
little over a year ago, my aging terrier mix Zapper’s health began
to deteriorate rapidly. I could not imagine “home”
without him. But knowing that his days with me were coming to
an end, I began to think about bringing another dog into my life. I
loved the Wheaten part of Zapper’s personality…his clownishness,
forever-young energy and naive sweetness and devotion and I had
researched the breed and knew that a new dog would have to be a
wheaten....and probably another rescue dog, as Zapper had been.
Someone told me that there was a
Wheaten Terrier rescue website. As I read through the stories of
Wheatens there who had been placed for adoption, my hopes rose.
I called Gwen Arthur, the founder of Wheatens in Need (WIN) in
Houston, Texas, and filled out an application.
We talked about the unique needs--
health, grooming, personality energy level, etc. of Wheaten
Terriers. She told me about a young male Wheaten who was being
fostered in Long Island (Calverton, New York) by Joyce Rienzo, and
gave me her phone number. Blue had been in Joyce’s care for six
weeks and she was falling in love with him, but knew he needed to
move on to a permanent home.
I wanted him… but he was 1500 miles
away. I didn't know how I would get him to Minnesota... a phone call
back to Gwen who said, “This is where I go to work”….I watched in
amazement as the emails flew and within days, Gwen arranged for a
network of Wheaten lovers strung out from Calverton New York to
Wisconsin...all willing to drive a “leg” of Blue’s journey from
Joyce to me. There was going to be a Blue Boy WURL. Someone
wisely suggested that Joyce get a disposable camera and that they
photograph at each stop along the journey. That allowed us to post a
web page of the journey involving so many caring People. The rest is
history.
Click the map for
the WURL story!
Now back to Blue's life
now. We have had Blue for 5 months and we think he has settled in
quite well as the photos below demonstrate.
Angie
with Blue on the futon and Zapper on the floor
This is the
first Christmas that my daughter, Angie, has not had her Zapper dog
at her side since she was ten years old. He died on September 20,
2001 which was a couple of weeks after this picture was
taken. Christmas morning, I peaked into her bedroom door to find
that Blue had chosen her bed (instead of his usual spot at the foot
of mine), and he was curled up beside her with her arm flung across
his back. Zapper would approve…
Tracee
with Matt on the floor with Blue
My daughter Tracee and her fiancé, Matt
have known Blue slightly longer than I. They moved from Minnesota to
New York a year and a half ago. When I found out about Blue, they
drove out to Long Island and visit Blue's foster mother Joyce
Rienzo, and Blue. They sent pictures back within an hour. It was
love at first sight. This picture was taken when Tracee and Matt
were home in Minnesota recently….Blue getting a few strokes out of
them lying around before breakfast!
Blue
lying beside Brad while he and Angie play board games
When they are home, Blue sticks to Angie and
her boyfriend Brad like glue. They are always good for board games….
Blue
with his dinosaur
Blue using his brown eyes to coax us
to play. "Let's play a friendly game of “throw the dinosaur!”"
Looks
like he is really watching the movie too
Brad and
Blue both lying on their backs watching movies. They're enjoying the
funny parts of a good movie...
Angie
on kitchen counter with Blue beneath her
Blue begging
treats from the kitchen counter….or maybe just getting a back rub
with stocking feet...
Blue
watching me from the bottom of the stairs
He patiently
waits on the bottom step every evening while I work on the
computer…this picture was taken “as I type.”
Blue
ready to go
I think he
was “born to be a Minnesotan”….loves the snow, and is ready to go
out no matter how cold….though some trips out are shorter than
others!
I want to say that Joyce Rienzo’s
experience with dogs (and animals in general) and the six weeks of
foster care she gave Blue was absolutely invaluable to him. I
believe that the time she (and others who foster these wonderful
dogs) invests in them helps to shorten the list of “unknowns’
for those of us who adopt them. I knew about Blue’s personality, his
likes and dislikes, things that scared him, and his bad habits (the
list was short!) and his strong points.
Blue and I have finished 8 weeks of basic
obedience training and are going to look into some agility training
in spring. We’re students of the Nothing In Life Is Free program
which makes him “perform” a bit to earn what he wants and
likes----and he’s eating it up, so to speak! Considering that the
only obedience training he had had prior to that in his 1 ˝ years of
life was with Joyce, he is doing wonderfully. Is he
perfect? No! Does he occasionally revert back to peeing
outside his crate? Yep. But very seldom—maybe three times since he’s
been with me. Are there days when he acts like he never learned even
one obedience command? You bet. (Is he a wheaten?)
But the little Irish guy has wormed his way into my heart and he is
“my” dog! In 5 months, Blue has truly become a member of the family
and its hard to remember life without him!
I cannot
thank everyone involved in Wheaten in Need enough. One could
say that these People truly love their dogs, and the breed ---and
that would be motivation enough. But when I see all the faces of the
“Blue Boy WURL”, it seems to me that it is so much more than
that….it is People caring about other People. They truly do
“lend a hand.” Thank you everyone!
Sincerely,
Lois Wolf and the dog named Blue
Thanks to all the super WIN WURL volunteers for another stellar
job. WIN volunteers WURLed Blue Boy from Joyce Rienzo's Foster home
in Calverton, NY to Cold Spring, MN. A three day WURL with
overnights in Pittsburgh and with Tina Thomas in Illinois. See some
of the details of this little guys ride at:
Blue Boy WURL
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