tonka and me

one of our babies at the shelter is a dog who always gets a second glance from prospective families, but not necessarily to adopt, but just because he looks so funny.

once you get to know tonka, you love him with his funny antics and the playful puppy machine he is.

tonka looks like he was made from left over pieces parts of other dogs. he has a bassett body, but it is so round and large he appears to be a stuffed sausage in dog skin. he has a block head lab head, and the biggest brown puppy eyes you will ever meet. we named him tonka cause he looks just like a tonka toy.

when tonka first came to us he had a bit of an attitude. he had been abused and he had learned that he could intimidate those who scared and/or abused him. including other male dogs. his bark is huge and powerful, as his body which can knock you around like a pinball. and his mouth is large enough to put a whole head in.

as tonka has become accustomed to us and the other dogs, he has relaxed, become so very friendly and never ever meets an enemy. (there was this one time i will explain later).

due to his size and strength, he didn't have any playmates for a long time, he would go out in the play yards by himself and run and run. but he always seemed sad.

recently, we noticed he was playing with other dogs through the pen so we tried him with a playmate group and the boy came out of his shell. he became ecstatic with joy. he now plays with multiple dogs, and has a girlfriend in his pen. little miss georgia brown. they are quite smitten.

a year ago, i was working my part of the shelter by myself. I had let tonka out to run (he so loves to run) and in letting him back in he knocked me down, I hit my head on a support beam in the building and was knocked out. this guy with the other shelter from whom i rent, came running up to help. tonka had seen me go down and climbed on my body and was licking my face trying to help me. this guy came running up to help me and tonka was NOT LETTING that stranger get near me. he growled and barked and barked. the guy was trying his best to get to me, but tonka was intent on protecting me. finally he let the guy get to me, but he was not so convinced he should. when i did get up, we both gave tonka tons of good boy love and kisses for his protection of me, and in that he decided the guy was not so bad. from that day on until he quit, that guy had extra treats when he passed by tonkas pen. now tonka wants all the workers to get to know him, most do, and his large sausage body shows the results, he has them convinced that he NEEDSSS some treats.

it is such a joy to see a dog evolve from scared and aggressive to playful puppy full of joy and love. he has so much puppy time to make up for, all that time before us, he had to be grown and tough to survive. Now, he has acclimated to shelter life and has developed trust. now, he is ready for a home and a family with tons of energy to run, romp, play and laugh. he so loves to laugh.

posted by Elizabeth @ 12:57 PM