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| Name: |
Rusty
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Age: |
Thirteen years old
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| Gender: |
Male |
Breed: |
Pomeranian
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| Home: |
San Jose, California, USA |
The most special trait about my Rusty is his calm, nurturing demeanor. My doctor suggested I get a pet as for the first time in my life I lived alone and was being treated for depression. Rusty's very un-Pomeranian in that he didn't, evidently, read the "Yippy Yappy Pomeranian" book someone surely wrote.
When he was approximately 12-18 months, Rusty was abandoned with a little poodle in an apartment where an eviction occurred. Though the agency tried to keep them together, his buddy was adopted separately, thus Rusty had lost his owner, his family,his home, and his buddy all at once.
He was not housebroken or trained in any good dog citizen behaviors. But I had trained my dogs through classes previously and knew just what to do. Being a teacher, I spent our first entire summer together practicing everything from how to not use the coffee table as a springboard for getting off the couch to housebreaking, sit, stay, come, stand, drop it, and no.
About three years later, I was in a bad accident and spent nine months recovering from multiple surgeries. Rusty stayed patiently at his window sill up on his pillow at my desk longing for his walks, but I couldn't walk yet. Finally, when I was allowed to walk outside with my walker he walked as slowly as I did. We started with ten steps and in one year were walking an eighteen-minute mile!
Now I am retired from elementary teaching and working as an Activities Assistant at an Assisted Living Facility. I use my teaching skills with a group of up to 30 residents with dementia. Rusty works on Fridays and Saturdays. He'll let everyone cuddle and hold him on their laps. When put into the arms of a resident having a sad moment or angry outburst, their actions immediately turn to calmness. One time when I put him in the arms of a lady in the midst of great temper, she stopped, opened her arms to accept him and began to sing to him. Some of our residents wander, but with Rusty in their lap, they stay seated and participate in the group's activities which prevent them from being isolated in their rooms. Having Rusty in our group also helps the residents be willing and able to talk about their own pet memories and those always bring smiles. The second was taken with my cell phone when a 94-year-old resident was holding Rusty, he was looking his happiest and I liked her aged hand in the photo, even if it is a bit blurry.
He is a very special boy.
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